Omega Team
by Chakat StarDust
Summary: In the wake of the Chitauri invasion and the influx of supervillains that follow it is decided that more teams of talented individuals must be trained in order to deal with them. Enter Marissa Maloni, agent of SHIELD and new handler of the Omega Team, a bunch of misfit teenagers with powers and a shocking amount of trust issues. Their first mission: survive each other
1. Chapter 1

Star: New story, new story! Had to get this written down, the characters won't leave me alone. This is listed as an Avengers story, but the Avengers team will only have cameos. Very OC-centric, so there's your warning. I own nothing but this crazy-ass plot and the Ocs that refuse to leave me alone!

Director Nick Fury looked up briefly as the door to his office opened and then closed again. He looked down again, getting his papers in order. "You wanted to see me, sir?" The voice was female, with a mild southern drawl that could become pronounced if the agent felt the need for a little misdirection. He waited a moment and then looked up again, meeting her pale grey eyes.

"Have a seat, Agent Maloni." He said calmly. One eyebrow twitched, but she said nothing as she walked forward and sat down, not looking away from him. She was dark-skinned, a mix of Italian and African-American blood. High cheekbones, long nose and full lips gave her a striking appearance, made all the more so by the short layer of black fuzz on her head that was all that was left of her hair. The hairstyle was her own choice, but it still made heads turn and tongues wag.

"You are of course aware of the Avengers?" He said. One corner of her mouth quirked up in a sardonic grin. "You are also aware of the fact that we have wannabe supervillains coming out of the woodwork since the Manhattan Incident."

"Yes sir." She replied, no doubt wondering what that had to do with her.

"The Avengers can't be everywhere at once, and regular SHIELD agents don't always cut it." Fury went on. She inclined her head in agreement. "I'm putting together another team, something like the Avengers, and you're going to be their handler."

"Me?" Agent Maloni said after a moment of stunned silence. "I'm a level five, and the only reason I'm that is because I'm the only one in SHIELD that Namor is willing to deal with. Why me?"

"We have a few prospects in mind already." Fury said. "Most are mutants." She frowned slightly. "Young mutants, living on the streets." He settled back. "They're not going to be willing to trust very easily, they need someone who they can see themselves in leading them. You're the only one that fits the bill, and your leadership skills are exemplary."

"So what you're asking me to do is babysit a bunch of likely half-crazed, trust issue-riddled teenagers with powers." She said frankly. Fury smiled at her. She stared up at the ceiling for a moment and then looked back at him. "Alright, can't be any worse than dealing with Atlanteans. Not that I think you're going to give me much choice in the matter."

"I like to think I am." Fury replied, standing up. "We have a potential recruit already for you."

"Fast work." Agent Maloni commented, standing up as well. Fury handed her a file and indicated that she walk with him. Out of the corner of his eye he watched her flip through the file, face expressionless.

"He's not a mutant." She pointed out.

"Best guess is that he's a Frost Giant, fits Thor's description." Fury answered. "Be good to have a bit of muscle on the time, someone who can take a blow without getting too badly hurt."

"Ah, I see." They were heading down to the interrogation rooms now. "May I ask how you are keeping him compliant?"

"He's seen what our weapons can do, he's wearing adamantium shackles, plus the room he's in we've sucked all the moisture out so he can't make ice out of the water in the air." She nodded in understanding. "It's your party." He said, gesturing her into the interrogation room.

%&%&%&%

Marissa Maloni stepped into the interrogation room, eying her prospective team member. He was sitting, shoulders hunched and trying to seem smaller, but just by looking she judged that he was around eight feet tall. He was human shaped, though he looked as though he'd been carved from a block of blue ice. Two dark grey ridges stuck out of his skull from his temple to the back of his head. Thin markings, most of them whorls and spirals covered most of the skin that she could see.

He eyed her uneasily as she sat down, opening his file, nervousness in ruby red eyes. "Good afternoon, Mr…?" She waited. He simply looked confused and she took pity on him. "What is your name?"

"Viggo." He had a deep, rumbling voice, with a mild accent that she couldn't place. "What is yours?" He asked shyly.

"I am Marissa Maloni, Agent of SHIELD." She answered. "No last name?" She asked.

"No one wants me, I am the son of no one." Viggo said bitterly. "Are you going to kill me?" He asked her, eyes wide with fear.

"What makes you think I will?" Marissa asked.

"I am shackled, and you have these men with their… what are they called again?" Viggo asked, gesturing towards the weapons his guards held.

"Guns." Marissa told him gently. "And the only reason we would kill you is if you were going to do something like try to kill us. Is that what you are here for?"

"No! No, I… I was banished." Viggo said, looking upset.

"Why were you banished?" Marissa asked coaxingly. It took a few moments for Viggo to answer.

"I am small, and… male." He admitted, as though being male was a serious crime. Marissa tilted her head at him and he looked down. "Jotun, we are… mostly… single-gendered, ah, both male and female."

"Ah, intersex." Marissa nodded her head. "So you are an anomaly."

"A freak." Viggo spat. "Always they call me that, push me around, prevent me from getting food, drive me away, and now this. They found a passage to this realm and pushed me in, thinking you mortals would just attempt to kill me."

"I'm guessing you don't want to go back there then." Viggo shook his head, looking miserable. "Unfortunately, though there are many humans that are quite used to unusual beings, there are many who will see you as a threat, so ordinary living is out of the question for now. However," Viggo closed his mouth, forestalling whatever he was about to say. "SHIELD is used to dealing with unusual people, and we would be quite happy to have you as part of our organization."

"What is the catch?" Viggo asked suspiciously.

"I'd have to explain what SHIELD does for you to understand what we are offering, and what function I am serving." Marissa quickly explained what SHIELD was all about, and the initiative that she herself was going to be in charge of.

"So, you fight bad guys?" Viggo supplied.

"A simple way of looking at it, but yes, we eliminate threats to humanity, whether it's on a regional scale or a global scale." Marissa nodded her head. "The people who you will be working with specifically will mostly be mutants, human beings who have acquired powers or interesting physical traits. Many of these mutants are shunned by society, so they will be a very suspicious lot. Do you think you can work with unusual people?"

"I am unusual myself." Viggo shrugged. "It does not matter to me. May I ask, you are being very kind to me, you do not have to be, yes?"

"Not technically, it is easier to get someone to agree to something if they feel at ease though." Marissa answered.

"I feel it though, you want to be kind to me." Viggo replied. "Why is that?" Marissa considered him for a moment and then smiled, exposing her teeth for the first time.

"Let's just say I know what it's like to feel like the entire world is against you for being just a little bit different." She said. Viggo smiled back at her, showing off sharp little teeth, oddly dainty for one of his size. "Those shackles can come off now." She told the guards. When they hesitated she fixed them with her frostiest stare.

Viggo rubbed his wrists when the shackles were off. "Thank you." He said.

"Don't thank me yet, you'll be going through some pretty hard training to get you and the team ready for what's out there." Marissa said, indicating that he should follow her. He towered over her, but standing up she could see that he was pretty scrawny and moved with the uneasy gait of a young man trying to get used to his growing body.

Some agents stopped and stared as Marissa led Viggo through the labyrinth of corridors that comprised the Hellicarrier, but most, used to stranger things, just ignored them. "I did not know mortals came in so many colours." Viggo commented. Marissa chuckled at his delight. "And the world is so many colours too, so bright. I've never seen so many colours, they are beautiful, aren't they?"

"Well, honestly I don't much pay attention to such things anymore, on account of I can see them every day, but when I think about it, you're right, they are very beautiful." She handed him a key card. "This will get you into areas you're allowed in, you swipe it, like this.." She demonstrated with the door that would lead to his quarters. "And the door will open. The door will not open if you don't have clearance to be in that area, so don't keep trying if it doesn't want to let you in."

"Okay." Viggo looked at the little card cradled in his massive hands and held it tentatively, afraid to break it. He went inside the room and sat on the bed, which groaned under his weight. He smiled at Marissa. "I've never had a bed of my own." He admitted. Marissa felt her heart squeeze in sympathy and smiled back at him. It was that moment that she knew she would kill to protect her new charge.


	2. Chapter 2

Star: I own nothing!

Viggo was likely going to prove the easiest of her recruits when all was said and done, Marissa mused to herself. She was driving down a row of dilapidated old houses in Detroit of all places, on the hunt for two more potential team members. Her GPS informed her that she'd arrived at her destination and she stopped, getting out of the car.

The cold winter air hit her like a slap in the face and she exhaled slowly, watching her breath curl through the air. She'd always imagined she was a dragon when she was younger, more innocent of the world and its cruelties. The two women hiding out in the house in front of her that should by all rights be torn down were as aware of the unfairness of the world as she was.

She'd decided on no back-up. They were not going to be very trusting of a woman in a suit, no matter where she'd come from, and no matter the fact that she wore scuffed up trainers in defiance of traditional footwear. No, they knew better than to trust anyone but themselves, which made her job harder, but no less interesting.

She fought the urge to check her shoulder holster for her weapon; it wasn't there anyways, and she felt almost naked without it, or her swords. The front door creaked open, putting Marissa in mind of certain horror movies. The floor creaked and groaned ominously under her weight, but she managed to make it all the way upstairs, the air steadily growing warmer as she walked down the hallway.

She stopped in front of the doorway of the bathroom, and, feeling mildly ridiculous, knocked on the doorframe. Two heads poked out of the bathtub cautiously, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Kaede Fukui, dyed red hair in a short Mohawk that teased her hair back from her forehead, and slanted light brown eyes glaring hate at her. Imelda Barrio, short curly black hair, longer on the top than on the sides and falling over her forehead, and hazel eyes narrowed in concern but not necessarily anger.

"Good morning, Miss Fukui, Miss Barrio." Marissa said warmly.

"How the fuck do you know who we are?" Miss Fukui growled.

"SHIELD is in the business of knowing things." Marissa replied.

"Well you can get the hell out before I barbeque, 'cause we ain't going to be caged like some wild animals." Miss Fukui spat.

"Miss Fukui, if it were my intention to capture you, you would have already been incapacitated." Marissa pointed out politely. "But allow me to introduce myself, I am Marissa Maloni, Agent of SHIELD and I have a proposition for you both."

"What kind of proposition?" Miss Barrio asked. Miss Fukui muttered something to her and she shook her head and shushed the redhead.

"A chance at being something great." Marissa replied.

"Oh for fucks sake." Miss Fukui snarled. "Speak English."

"Of course you know who the Avengers are." Marissa said. "Big damn heroes. Unfortunately the recent increase in wannabe supervillains and genuine threats means that the Avengers can't get everywhere at once, and regular SHIELD agents tend to be… ill-equipped to dealing with some of these threats. What my task is simply to find individuals with unique talents and form a team that will take some of the heat off the Avengers."

"And… you want us for that team?" Miss Barrio said in disbelief.

"I would not be bothering you otherwise." Marissa replied.

"Why the fuck would you want us? Pretty damn sure if you know our names you know we're mutants, you know the freaks ordinary people like to imagine as monsters." Miss Fukui spat.

"I know very well the attitudes towards mutants, which is precisely why I want mutants on my team." Marissa said. They looked blankly at her. "Having a team of mutants out there saving the day can show people that there's nothing to be afraid of." Miss Fukui snorted derisively. "Wouldn't you like to prove all those people wrong? The ones that make you hide away from the world? Wouldn't you like to be the ones to inspire a generation of kids like you, to make sure no one will ever be ashamed of what they are again?" It sounded pretentious, but she was being completely honest.

"What's the catch?" Miss Barrio demanded. "There's always a catch."

"Well you do have to be able to work as a team and take orders." Marissa said. "Other than that, we're not going to force you into anything, and if you decide you want to leave, it'll be done and we'll even forge some papers for you that'll make it easier to find employment, and housing."

"And why would we follow you?" Miss Fukui demanded.

Marissa smiled, showing her teeth. "Because I know what it's like to be feared, to be cast out, and because I will not let anything happen to the people under my command." She decided that was enough, no need to get too preachy. She took a card from her pocket and placed it on the ground. "My number's on there, give me a call if you figure things out." She then turned around and walked out, not looking back.

%&%&%&%

Imelda watched Kaede's lip curl up into a sneer as the SHIELD agent walked away. "What a load of bullshit." Her girlfriend growled.

"Don't think it was." Imelda answered.

"What?" Kaede looked at her and Imelda felt heat flare where their bodies were pressed against each other. The bathtub wasn't exactly the most comfortable space, but the beds were worse, and it was nice curled up against Kaede, who radiated enough heat to keep her toasty in the cold winter.

"Did you see her teeth?" Imelda asked. Kaede frowned. "She's like us, she knows what it's like."

"So? Doesn't mean we can trust her." Kaede replied.

"No, but it does mean that she's likely more trustworthy than anyone else who's tried to get us." Imelda pointed out. "Besides, even if they tried to contain us, you really think they could?" Kaede smirked at her. "Look, I for one am tired of having to move from place to place all the time."

"Sorry." Kaede muttered, looking ashamed.

"Knock it off with the pity party, it ain't sexy." Imelda said, rapping her knuckles, _gently_, against Kaede's skull. "These guys can probably help you to get it under control too."

"Maybe…" Kaede said doubtfully. Imelda smiled. Kaede was easy to talk around once she was calmed down.

"Come on, a real bed, food that doesn't come from a garbage bin, no gangs of stupid teenage boys waiting to rape us, can't be too bad." She wheedled, leaning up to kiss Kaede's throat. Kaede made that guttural noise in her throat that meant she was giving in but not liking it one bit.

"Fine, I'll play nice, for now. The second I get wind that something's up I'm burning wherever we are to the ground." She finally snapped.

"Wouldn't expect anything less." Imelda sighed, hauling herself out of the bathtub. Kaede stood up as well, towering over Imelda's five and a half feet. Kaede always said her shoulders were too broad and her hands were too big, but Imelda never saw that. She only saw the slim curves of her bodies and the way she stalked like a panther about to strike.

Honestly sometimes Imelda didn't know what Kaede saw in her. Imelda was all rough, dry skin, a dirty Hispanic to those who couldn't get their heads out of their asses or figure out the difference between a Spaniard and a Mexican, with a build that at its best could be called stocky. Kaede looked at her like she was the most beautiful thing though, which Imelda could never understand, but had learned not to argue about.

"Son of a bitch." Kaede swore. "She's waiting out there." Kaede laughed, half indignation, half disbelief.

"Well, let's not keep her waiting." Imelda said pragmatically. She headed down the stairs and heard Kaede stamp after her. Agent Maloni took a long drag on the cigarette she was smoking when she saw them and then tamped it out, leaning casually against the side of her car.

"That's bad for your health." Imelda called and was rewarded with another flash of those impossibly sharp teeth.

"Well, the average SHIELD agent doesn't live to see their fiftieth birthday, so I'm likely to be dead long before any kind of cancer gets at me." Agent Maloni drawled.

"And you want us to be a part of that?" Kaede growled.

"It's worth it, or so I think." Agent Maloni answered, tone all amusement. "So have hundreds of others, so we must be doing something right."

"And we can get out any time we want?" Imelda said. "No one's going to come after us, stick us in some cell somewhere?"

"No, we prefer loyalty to fear, makes for better workers." Agent Maloni said. "Not to mention this is my operation, so if someone's uncomfortable it's up to me to make sure they get comfortable."

"Anyone else say yes to your shitshow yet or are we the first suckers?" Kaede demanded.

"I have a Frost Giant by the name of Viggo so far, but that's it." Agent Maloni answered. "He's pretty shy right now, so try not to scare him off."

"Whatever you say, Sharkie." Kaede said, throwing a mocking salute. The smirk that appeared on Agent Maloni made Imelda think that this might work out after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Star: I own nothing!

So apparently being a frost giant meant that you were big and blue, at least that was the first thing Kaede noticed about their supposed teammate, Viggo. The second thing she noticed was how he kept trying to make himself as small as possible while Agent Maloni introduced them to each other. The third thing she noticed was that he seemed way too skinny for someone his size.

"I'll let you three get acquainted, I've got more recruits to look for." Agent Maloni sighed, taking her leave of them.

"So you're pretty big." Imelda said, looking over Viggo speculatively. "How much can you bench press?"

"I don't know what that is." Viggo replied in a deep, gravelly voice.

"Like what's your strength like, could you lift a big boulder up, something bigger than you?" Imelda pressed. Kaede could figure out where this was going.

"Yes." Viggo said, clearly confused.

"Finally, someone I can wrestle with who won't break!" Imelda said, throwing up her hands. "Come on big guy, you and me, wrestle."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Viggo said slowly. Kaede snickered as Imelda rolled her eyes.

"Come on, you're not going to break me." She said. "Here, I'll show you." She grabbed his arm before he could protest and threw him. She winced when he collided with the wall. "Whoops, did not mean to throw him that hard."

"You always say that." Kaede reminded her. Imelda shrugged and wandered over to where Viggo was getting to his feet, rubbing the back of his head.

"You alright, big man?" She asked, clapping a hand on his arm in a friendly way.

"Yes, I was not expecting that, though." Viggo said. His accent sounded something like a mixture of Russian and something Scandinavian to Kaede's ears, his w's sounding vaguely like v's. "Are all mortals so strong?"

"Naw, just me, and some other people." Imelda shrugged. "It's my mutation."

"Marissa told me about mutations." Viggo said. "Are you both mutations then?" Kaede couldn't help but bristle.

"And what if we are?" She snapped, heat flaring off her. Viggo put his hands up in a placating gesture.

"I do not mean anything bad by it, I am only curious, because Marissa said I would be working with mostly mutants." He said. "I would not make fun, I know what it is like to be treated differently."

"What being big and blue?" Kaede asked.

"No, actually, back when I was with my own people.. my people are intersex, both male and female, but I… I was born just male, and I was treated like less than others because of it." Viggo explained, looking ashamed. Kaede saw the look on Imelda's face, that protective, 'I'm going to kill anyone who gets near this guy' look and sighed.

"Imelda, he's not a puppy you can adopt." She said.

"He is cute though." Imelda replied and hugged Viggo around the waist. Viggo smiled shyly. "We know what it's like to get kicked out because of what we are."

"Because you're mutants?" Viggo asked.

"Well Kaede was kicked out because of her mutation, I was booted because I like kissing girls." Imelda replied. Viggo looked confused.

"Why is that a problem?" He asked.

"Because people are stupid and think that loving someone who's the same gender as you is somehow immoral." Kaede snarled. Imelda patted her arm absentmindedly, not even caring about the heat she was radiating.

"It does sound stupid." Viggo agreed. "You are getting very hot, is that your mutation?" He asked eagerly. Fuck, he really was like a puppy dog, wasn't he? Kaede grinned, deciding that it had been too long since she'd shown off.

"May want to back up a bit, big guy." Imelda warned. Kaede stripped off her pants and t-shirt, which seemed to puzzle Viggo, but not scandalize him. Maybe frost giants didn't have nudity taboos, not her problem though. She stepped back into the middle of the room, making sure she had space.

It took only moments to find the heat inside her and allow it to course through her veins. It was a rush, feeling the fire race through her, singing through her body and then it erupted from her, whiting out her vision for a moment. Honestly it was almost better than orgasms. When she could see again she held out her hands, hands that were now made of fire, like the rest of her was.

"So, I can turn into fire, and kind of make fire as well." Kaede said. "I'm kind of like the Human Torch, except less of an ass."

Viggo was staring at her, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Oh yeah, she never got tired of showing off a little bit. She turned off the heat, letting herself cool down slowly. While the flames disappeared her skin still glowed. As she cooled down further only her major veins and arteries continued to glow with an orange-red light, giving her a mildly demonic appearance. Eventually even that faded and she looked normal again.

"I will not be getting too close to you when you are like that." Viggo declared. "I am of a land of ice, heat is no good for me. Also, who is the Human Torch?"

"So what you're saying is you don't want to be melted like a snowman." Imelda said. "Don't worry about the Human Torch."

"Yes!" Viggo paused, looking thoughtful. "What's a snowman?"

Imelda laughed. "I'm keeping him."

"Of course you are." Kaede replied, all exasperated fondness.

%&%&%&%

It took three more tries to bring a fourth in, which Marissa considered to be a good success rate. Her newest recruit was currently bouncing in zir seat. Charlie Blythe was a shapeshifter who was also agender. It stood to reason that the first thing ze had done when ze became aware of zir power was to make zir body match what ze felt.

"My mom hadn't cared that I started changing shapes." Charlie explained, turning big green eyes on Marissa. "What she did care about was when I started staying in this shape and asking her to use my proper pronouns. Then I was suddenly going against God's plan and rejecting his destiny for me to be a cute little girl." Ze stuck zir tongue out at the notion. "So I left. Couldn't stay, you know?"

"I know." Marissa said.

"Thought so." Charlie said, nodding zir head. "I bet the next question on your mind is why I don't keep a shape that's a little less pudgy."

Marissa looked at the shapeshifter, whose body was the essence of pleasantly plump. Ze had a soft round face and a belly that was big enough for comfortable squishing if someone wanted to cuddle. Zir hair was currently red and spiky, but it had been green and curly when Marissa had first approached zir. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Honestly how you want to look is your business." She told Charlie.

"Well that's nice of you." Charlie said cheerfully. "All that stuff about everybody being thin and stuff is bull anyways, right?"

"I won't disagree." Marissa said, smiling.

"I'm happy the way I am, so why change that?" Charlie added. "So who am I working with?" Ze asked.

"So far I have a frost giant by the name of Viggo, a pyrokinetic named Kaede and a superstrong girl by the name of Imelda." Marissa replied. "I'm hoping to find two more at the most."

"We're going to be heroes!" Charlie chirped, bouncing happily again. Marissa smiled at zir. "You've got cool teeth, I bet they come in handy sometimes, huh?"

"They're pretty good for intimidation." Marissa drawled.

"Ever bit anyone?" Charlie asked curiously.

"Yes." Marissa replied shortly. "Human definitely is not one of my preferred flavours." Charlie laughed at that. Ze was either going to be a big hit, or annoy the hell out of the others, but only time would tell. Viggo would probably like zir.

"You know I considered trying to be someone's pet for a while, when I first got on the street, but then I realized that dog food is awful." Charlie said, chattering on happily in the silence. "Hey, can we stop at a McDonald's first? I'm starving."


	4. Chapter 4

Star: I own nothing!

Marissa strode into the police precinct and walked right up to the bored looking policeman behind the desk. "I'm looking for Simon Darzi." She said. He looked briefly up at her and then back down at whatever he was playing with.

"Are you family?" He droned.

"No." Marissa answered.

"No one but family is allowed in ma'am." He sighed. Marissa reached into her suit jacket pocket and took out her SHIELD badge, displaying it for him. His eyes widened and he stared up at her in awe. "Oh, of course, right away ma'am!" He said, leaping to his feet.

He led her down a long hallway to a steel door. When he opened it he revealed a padded room with a single occupant in a straitjacket. "You'll want to be careful ma'am, he electrocuted his stepfather." The police officer said.

"I think I can handle myself." Marissa said with a smile. "Thank you for your help." The policeman nodded and left the room. Marissa eyed the young man in the straitjacket. His hair was long enough to get in his eyes, curly and a chestnut brown. He had tanned skin, gangly limbs and dark brown eyes behind lopsided glasses. He watched her warily.

"I imagine the restraints and the padded room don't do much to inhibit your powers." Marissa commented, sitting down cross-legged. He gave her a wary look. "Of course then they'd put you in something even more uncomfortable."

"Expect I'll find myself in a place like that anyways." Mr. Darzi answered. "Mutant, and electrocuted someone, not a good place to be."

"No, I know that." Marissa said. "Why did you electrocute him anyways, Mr. Darzi?" He looked away from her. "I think I can guess. Nathan Root had numerous infractions against him, several DUIs, assault, fighting. Not a big leap to think that he was abusive." There was a flicker of something in Simon's eyes. Checkmate, she thought. "It's also not a big leap of intuition to think that you either saw the abuse, or were subjected to it, and the emotions triggered your power."

"And what do you care?" Mr. Darzi said.

"I care because I'm looking for a young man like you." Marissa answered. "Someone with a little bit of power. A sense of justice doesn't hurt either."

"He always hit me, that was nothing new." Mr. Darzi muttered. "But then he went after mom…" He shook his head. "I didn't mean to hurt him, but I'm not sorry for it, either."

"Good." Marissa said. "In my opinion people like that don't deserve pity."

"Who are you, exactly?" Mr. Darzi asked.

"I am Agent Marissa Maloni, of SHIELD." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Why I am here is because I am charged with putting together a team of individuals to fight the battles normal agents can't."

"What, like a back-up version of the Avengers?" Mr. Darzi laughed.

"Precisely." Mr. Darzi stopped laughing and stared at her.

"You're serious, aren't you?" He said wonderingly. "But then, why me? Powers like mine are a dime a dozen."

"Exactly." Marissa said. "The Avengers are role models, heroes for a generation of kids. This team is a great way for mutants to get the same exposure, and what better heroes for them to look up to than kids who are just like them, who don't have the fancy powers but save the world anyways."

"Hey you're really passionate about this, aren't you?" Mr. Darzi said. Marissa chuckled ruefully.

"Well, I often wished for heroes like me when I was a kid." She admitted, smiling with her teeth. Mr. Darzi looked over his glasses at her.

"That is freaky, but really fucking awesome too." He commented. "So no rounding up the mutants and caging them?" He asked.

"If that were so I wouldn't be the one talking to you, now would I?" Marissa commented with another smile.

"Maybe." Mr. Darzi said doubtfully. He shifted slightly. "I guess anywhere's better than here." Marissa smiled widely and got up, helping Mr. Darzi out of his straitjacket. "They gonna give you trouble for getting me out?"

"I'm SHIELD, if they don't like it they can take it up with Director Fury." Marissa replied. Mr. Darzi nodded and shook out his arms, rearranging his glasses from their lopsided perch. He grinned, showing off crooked teeth.

"So, am I the first, or do you have any more freaks for me to play with?" He asked as Marissa led him from the room.

"I take offence to the freak remark." Marissa said mildly. "Too many bad memories there. But, to answer your question I currently have three other mutants, two girls and one agender individual, as well as a male frost giant."

"What's agender?" Mr. Darzi asked. Marissa flashed her badge at the officers that tried to intercept them.

"It simply means that the individual does not identify as any gender, that they feel they are genderless. Charlie, being a shapeshifter, can take it one step further and completely eliminate gender from zer form." Marissa explained. "We'll have a session on gender and sexual identity, SHIELD has strict rules on prejudice in the workplace."

"Really?" Mr. Darzi said. "Wouldn't expect that from a government organization."

"Well, we operate on our own rules for the most part." Marissa replied. "When you deal with aliens and mutants and other assorted beings on a regular basis, you have to be able to operate on a high level of tolerance and respect."

"One way of looking at it, I guess." Mr. Darzi said. "So, what can the other mutants do?"

"Miss Barrio has enhanced strength and Miss Fukui has the ability to create and turn into fire." Marissa said. "So far Charlie and Viggo, the frost giant, are the only ones who've given me permission to use their first names."

"I don't care, really." Simon said with a shrug of his shoulders. "If I'm going to be working with you, may as well be on a first name basis. Has anyone called you Sharkey yet?"

"A time or two." Marissa replied, getting into her car.

"Is it just the teeth?" Simon asked, sliding into the passenger seat.

"No." She splayed her fingers, showing the webbing between them. "I can also breathe underwater and my skin is thicker and tougher than normal, more like shark skin than human."

"Then I'll try to avoid rubbing you the wrong way." Simon joked. Marissa allowed her lips to curl up slightly. "Aw come on, that was funny!"

"Not as funny as you think it is." Marissa replied.

"Eh, you're probably right." Simon shrugged. "So where do you come from? I'm Egyptian and English, my mom met my dad in Egypt, they were both archeologists, you see."

"I am Italian and African-American." Marissa replied. "My father immigrated and met my mother at university. Why they chose to move to the south is beyond me, however."

"Racism?" Marissa nodded her head. "Sucks, doesn't it? I get people who can't tell the difference between Pakistanis, Afghanis, Iraqis, all that. I got called a sand nigger a couple times." He made a face.

"I have had half of that expletive hurled at me numerous times." Marissa admitted.

"And then we became mutants."

"Indeed." Marissa replied. She didn't need to tell Simon the kind of things she heard after people starting finding out about her mutation, or the fights that she inevitably got into. Most mutants knew, those that didn't were considered lucky, or naïve.

"Change the way the world looks at us huh?" Simon mused. "Don't put much hope in me, I'm a high school dropout, dyslexic, run my mouth too much, you name it. I'm not worth much."

"I would not have picked you if I didn't think you were worth anything." Marissa said sternly. "You are what you choose to be, and you will never amount to anything if you don't believe you will."

"Sorry, but nothing in my life has ever said to me that I should believe in myself." Simon admitted.

"Then, until you can believe in yourself, I will believe in you for you."


	5. Chapter 5

Star: I own nothing!

Hiba was in trouble. Of course she'd been in trouble the moment her parents had arranged her marriage to that bastard that she did not speak of. She had taken care of him though, before his abusive ways had ruined her, but she had gotten run out of her village in the process.

She had hiked to the city, hoping somehow that someone would have some form of job for her, even if it was just cleaning up shit. It was proving to be a lost cause however, she was after all only a girl without work experience. Now she was hurrying through the dark streets, a trio of men following after her, their cruel laughter like the yips of wild dogs.

She must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because she found herself suddenly at a dead end and three cruel men closing in on her. Her eyes darted around, wondering if she would be able to get rid of all three of them before they got to her. Her heart sank when she realized she probably couldn't.

"Gentlemen." A new voice said in oddly accented Arabic. A figure stepped into the alley, shrouded in darkness.

"This is no business of yours, infidel." One of the men spat.

"Oh, I believe I just made it my business." The voice was low, almost friendly, but Hiba could hear the steel in the words. "Back off, or I shall make you back off." The men laughed at the figure, who Hiba could now at least tell was female.

"You're no match for a man, woman."

"I am match enough for you sons of dogs." One of the men growled and hurled himself at the woman, preparing to make her pay for the insult. There was a flash of light along steel and suddenly the man was on the ground, screaming and clutching at the stump where his hand used to be. The other two men stared at the woman uneasily. "Now then, anyone else?" No one moved. "Get out of my sight, before I change my mind."

The two men scrambled over themselves to get away, dragging the third, moaning, bleeding man with them. Hiba was left alone with her rescuer, wondering if she wouldn't have preferred to deal with the men. The woman stepped forward into better light and revealed herself to be young and even darker skinned than Hiba herself was. She oddly had very little hair, and if she hadn't been foreign Hiba would have thought that she was being punished for something by having her head shaved.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." She said politely, putting her sword away. She had a matched pair, strapped to her back. "Not exactly the best first impression."

"You did save my life." Hiba pointed out nervously. The woman smiled slightly. No teeth, Hiba thought, not sure why that seemed important to note.

"And now you're wondering if you're not worse off than before." Hiba jerked slightly. "I'm good at reading people, and you're not in a position to trust anyone, not after what happened to you, Hiba Samara."

"How do you know my name?" Hiba demanded, hating the way her voice went shrill.

"Do you know of SHIELD?" The woman asked in reply. Hiba frowned slightly.

"That's… something to do with the Avengers, right?" Even in her village the news had come, of monsters coming out of the sky and the six brave, or foolish, people who set out to stop them.

"We are a large organization, we tend to deal with threats to humanity, whether on a regional or global scale." HIba stiffened at the word threat. "I'm not here to detain you." The woman said gently. "Quite frankly if the rumours that I am following to get to you are true I think I'd rather like to shake your hand." Hiba managed to smile slightly. "I am actually here to recruit you, or, at the very least offer you a chance to get out of here and start again."

"Recruit me for what?" Hiba asked.

"Perhaps we should find somewhere a little less out in the open to speak, maybe with some food as well." The woman suggested. Hiba's stomach rumbled at the mention of food. "We'll stay in public, that way you don't have to worry about me kidnapping you."

"Food would be nice." Hiba admitted. It was just one woman, odds were Hiba could take her out if it came to it. "Alright." She said quietly, moving towards her. "I didn't get your name?"

"Agent Marissa Maloni." was the prompt reply. "Come on, let's see if we can't scare up something decent to eat."

Half an hour later Hiba was sitting on a bridge, devouring falafel. It was the best thing she'd ever tasted. When she was done the woman, Agent Maloni just looked at her and wordlessly handed her the falafel she'd been holding. Hiba accepted it with a small thank you and chewed it slower than she had the last, the edge of her hunger abating enough.

"I'm putting together a team." Agent Maloni said, breaking the silence. "There's too many threats for the Avengers to deal with on their own, so SHIELD has tasked me with finding and bringing together people with unique abilities."

"Like mine." Hiba said.

"Depends. Did you really curse off your husband's genitals?" Agent Maloni asked, grey eyes bright and interested. Hiba considered her for a moment, considering what telling the truth or lying could do and then met those pale grey eyes, chin lifted in defiance.

"Yes." She said, challenging her to do her worst. To her surprise Agent Maloni began to chuckle, oddly enough not even opening her mouth much to do so.

"Oh, I wish I'd seen it." Agent Maloni said, shaking her head. "I don't much like men who think they are allowed to do anything to a woman." She shook her head in disgust. "You are exactly what I am looking for though." She murmured.

"Pardon?"

"Magic users are hard to get a hold of, on the whole they tend to be very secretive, so we try to get in touch with them before they vanish." Agent Maloni explained. "Can you do anything other than curse genitals off?"

"I was working on a few other spells, but my books were back at the village and they're sure to be burned already." Hiba said.

"We can probably find replacements." Agent Maloni assured her. "Probably even better ones."

"If I do this, I'll be fighting?" Hiba asked. Agent Maloni gazed at her steadily.

"I will not lie, it's a dangerous job to get into, I've already had my fair share of near misses and I'm only twenty five. That being said it's one of the best ways we have of keeping the world safe." Agent Maloni said. "Not only from aliens and mad scientists, but from human traffickers, abusers and other everyday villains. What I am asking of you is to be an inspiration to the world."

"A poor girl from a village in Iraq, an inspiration?" Hiba scoffed.

"Who better to inspire a thousand other poor girls like you, help them see that they don't have to accept the life they've been told they should lead?" Agent Maloni countered gently. "The best kind of hero is one that you can see yourself in. The Avengers are all well and good, but they're not exactly a reasonable goal to aspire to."

"That actually makes a lot of sense." Mina admitted. How many times had she wished the stories she heard had the woman as the hero of the story instead of the man.

"How will you be working with males, anyways?" Agent Maloni asked.

"Depends on the male." Mina replied neutrally.

"Well, one's not human, and he's, according to a couple of my other recruits, a big teddy bear. The other… he came from an abusive home, so I think he understands boundaries. If not, hex him." Agent Maloni said with a laugh, lighting up a cigarette. "There's also three girls, and one individual who prefers to have no gender."

"How does one do that?" Hiba asked, frowning.

"Being a shapeshifter helps, but it's not too uncommon for someone to feel they are genderless." Agent Maloni said. "You'll go through the SHIELD sexual education seminar, kind of have to, since we do get everything under the sun and then some. How are you with mutants, anyways?"

"I've never met any. My former husband called them cursed, but I never listened to him." Hiba said with a twist of her mouth.

"Good girl." Agent Maloni said approvingly, showing her teeth for the first time. Hiba's jaw dropped. Agent Maloni closed her mouth, giving Hiba a patient look.

"You won't bite me, will you?" Hiba finally stuttered out, wincing at her poor attempt at humour.

"Only if I need to." Agent Maloni replied, apparently amused. "What do you say? Even if you say no to the team I'd like to offer you a chance to get out of here still, SHIELD will provide the necessary papers and such."

"I think I'd like to try." Hiba replied. "I don't know if I have the courage to stick with it, but I'd like to try."

"And that's all I can ask."


	6. Chapter 6

Star: I own nothing!

It was the first time all of Marissa's recruits were going to be in the same room and she was understandably nervous. It was always iffy when bringing a group of very different people together; she'd seen the footage of the Avengers' first meeting on the Hellicarrier, thank you very much. These kids had powers to go with their trust issues, so this was going to require a steady hand.

She'd chosen an empty rec room for the meeting; there was a pool table, video games, that sort of thing; SHIELD agents tended to act like children in their downtime. She was starting to wonder if she should have picked a bigger space, especially with a temperamental pyrokinetic around. No, she had to show her team that she was willing to trust them, right off the bat, otherwise she wasn't going to get anywhere with them.

They trickled in, in ones and twos. Charlie was first, ever eager, and bounced about the room, turning zirself into several different animals before settling on being a chubby little corgi. Hiba came in next, self-consciously fidgeting with her hijab. Marissa made a mental note to ask her if she could work in pants, or if skirts were the only thing she could manage.

Kaede and Imelda came in next, Kaede looking completely uncomfortable. Imelda sat down in a chair and Kaede sat down in front of her. Imelda ran her fingers through her hair, making her purr in contentment. Viggo wandered in after them, sitting down in the chair next to Imelda, talking quietly to them both.

Simon came in last, grinning widely and waving at the room at large. "Wow, they weren't kidding when they said you were a giant!" He said to Viggo. "What's up, big guy?"

"Uh, the ceiling?" Viggo replied, looking confused.

"The ceiling, hilarious!" Simon laughed, a hyena-like sound, which made Viggo smile tentatively. "Heard you're quite the fire plug." He commented to Kaede. Kaede growled at him. "I'm a spark plug myself, but I don't go boom if I get… hot under the collar." He added with a wink.

"I'm not allowed to set him on fire, am I?" Kaede asked.

"Not unless it's for training." Marissa replied. Kaede grinned at her.

"The fact that you didn't say no right off means she will love you forever." Imelda muttered.

"Hey, you're my best girl." Kaede replied, rubbing her cheek against Imelda's thigh. Hiba was staring at the two of them. Marissa could practically feel the cogs working in the girl's mind. Kaede noticed too. "Got a problem?" She demanded, lips curling over teeth in a snarl.

"I am not used to such things, but I am trying." Hiba said.

"We can help with that." Imelda said, putting her hand over Kaede's mouth to silence her. "Forgive Kaede, she's got a temper to match her power." Hiba smiled nervously. She flinched away when Simon wandered close.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Simon asked.

"I don't much like men right now." Hiba answered, frowning at him. Simon put up his hands and backed away.

"Yikes, couple of wet blankets around here." He joked. "Seems like I'm the only one with a real sense of humour."

"I'm sorry but some of us have gone through a lot of shit in our lives, so I think we're allowed to be wet blankets." Kaede snarled.

"My stepdad used to hit me, and Marissa found me in a police station bound up in a straitjacket." Simon spread his arms in a shrug. "I'm just saying, sometimes a sense of humour goes a long way."

"Right now though, it's kind of fucking annoying, so lay off." Imelda suggested. Charlie, still a corgi, bounced up to Kaede, wagging zir tail.

"Ooh, you are a cutie." Kaede cooed, reaching out. "It's alright to pet you? You won't be offended?" Charlie's tail wagged harder and ze flopped onto her belly over Kaede's legs. "Oh my god." Kaede said happily, scratching Charlie's belly.

"So we have our team mascot." Simon said.

"Rude." Imelda said. Charlie turned back human.

"I don't mind being mascot." Ze piped up cheerfully. "Hi, I'm Charlie."

"Immy, can we keep zir, plllleeeeaaaassssseeeee?" Kaede whined, looking up at her girlfriend.

"I thought we were keeping Vig?" Imelda asked.

"We can keep them both." Kaede replied. "They can be cute together." Charlie tilted zir head at Viggo and walked up to him.

"Will it freak you out if I turn into a snake and crawl up you?" Ze asked.

"What's a snake?" Viggo asked in reply. Charlie grinned and placed a hand on his arm and then shifted forms. A multi-coloured snake was curled around his arm now. "Ooh!" Viggo said, obviously enchanted. He stroked Charlie's head with one big finger and ze flicked out zir tongue at him. "Is soft."

"People get scared of snakes, they think they're creepy." Imelda explained. Charlie uncurled zirself from VIggo's arm and slithered up his shoulder, curling zir coils around his neck and resting zir head on top of his.

"Oh god, that is almost sickeningly adorable." Kaede said. "I vote they're both our mascots."

"We should discuss our individual abilities, I'm not sure if I got to that with everyone." Marissa said. "Charlie you already know."

"I am a Jotun, a frost giant, I am strong, and I can make ice." Viggo said.

"Fire and ice, interesting combination." Simon said. "I'm Simon, I'm an electrokinetic, I can create electricity, up to a few thousand volts, sometimes."

"I'm Kaede, I am… I guess the proper term would by pyrokinetic, which means I can create fire, but I can also turn into fire." Kaede said.

"Female Human Torch." Simon muttered.

"Please don't compare me to that blowhard." Kaede said, rolling her eyes. "This is Imelda, my girlfriend, and she's strong enough to throw cars."

"She can throw me, too." Viggo commented.

"And I am Hiba, I use magic." Hiba said. "I cursed off my husband's genitals." Kaede whistled.

"Okay, I like her." She said. "Simon beware."

"Eh, I'm asexual anyways." Simon said with a shrug. Hiba and Viggo looked confused. "I don't experience sexual attraction, at all, to anyone. Also, I'm dyslexic, I don't know if I mentioned that."

"It was in your file, don't worry, we have resources for you." Marissa assured him. "I am Marissa, but you already knew that. I am a mutant, with the rather mundane mutation of being adapted for water. I've been with SHIELD for six years, was the chief negotiator between SHIELD and King Namor of Atlantis, and am one of the best agents with a sword."

"King Namor, what was that like?" Simon asked, impressed.

"Annoying. You'll never meet anyone else with a bigger ego, and I've briefly met Tony Stark." Marissa replied flatly.

"Oh my god, you sound like Bones, from Star Trek." Simon grinned. "You know Star Trek, right?"

"No, I've been living under a rock all my life." Marissa said sarcastically. Simon laughed his hyena laugh again.

"You are so totally Bones!" He exclaimed.

"She has bones." Viggo said, confused. "I don't understand."

"We'll get you hooked on Star Trek, big man, don't worry." Simon said, patting Viggo's arm. "Wow, you're cold."

"Frost giant." Viggo reminded him patiently.

"So when do we get to fight bad guys?" Simon asked.

"Not until I'm sure that you six won't get yourself killed the moment we get out." Marissa said. "Part of that is being able to work effectively as a team, having a good idea of what your limits are, and training in battlefield situations."

"So, boring stuff." Simon said. Marissa smiled.

"You haven't seen our simulators."


	7. Chapter 7

Star: I own nothing!

Kaede had found a little spot out of the way on the roof of the base to sit alone. She wasn't sure why she was here, besides feeling like she would follow Imelda everywhere. She put up a good front, and she did actually like Charlie and Viggo, but she knew she wasn't right for this.

She jerked when someone sat beside her with a sigh. "Found the one good spot to have a smoke without being bugged by every junior agent who's too cheap to buy their own, huh?" Agent Maloni, no Marissa, drawled. She took out a cigarette and lit it. Kaede couldn't help but stare at the delicate looking membranes between her fingers. "Kind of jarring to see, aren't they?" Marissa commented.

"They're… interesting." Kaede replied lamely. Marissa's hands were rough, like Imelda's, but her fingers were long and delicate-looking, if you ignored the scars and callouses. "Doesn't that hurt your gills?" Kaede asked as Marissa blew out a puff of smoke.

"Not so long as I don't expel the smoke through them." Marissa replied. "I have conscious control over which breathing system I use." Control, the one thing Kaede didn't have enough of. The reason why she knew she was all wrong for this. "You've got something on your mind, kid?"

"I'm twenty years old." Kaede said, bristling defensively. She could feel the air heating up around her in response to her anger.

"You're still young, compared to me." Marissa replied evenly. "SHIELD ages you. Let me tell you, I've seen some shit."

"Like what?" Kaede scoffed. "Worse than things you see on the streets?"

"We deal with monsters, in SHIELD. Funny thing about monsters is that you realize that most of them look human." Marissa replied darkly. She removed her suit jacket and rolled up her sleeves. Her left arm, from just above her wrist, all the way over her elbow and probably continuing up beneath the shirt was a mess of burn scars. Even through those she could see smaller scars, like oval bumps in her skin. They were in her right arm too, marching their way up from her wrist and beneath her shoulder, in a line in the soft skin of her inner arm, a couple inches apart.

"What happened?" Kaede asked, not quite sure which she was talking about.

"The burns were from a bomb that exploded underwater. Melted my wetsuit, and then the medics peeled it off of me, quite a bit of my skin went too. I was lucky though, only caught my arm and shoulder." Marissa explained, looking at her arm. "The other ones were actually worse."

"How?" Kaede demanded. Marissa was silent for a long moment, running fingertips over the little scars.

"Few years back I was running a mission investigating this company that we suspected was dealing with cybernetics." She began. "It went south and I was captured. They decided to use me as a test subject. They put these little probes under my skin, on my arms, my spine and my legs. They were meant to control my nervous system, basically turn me into a living puppet. They didn't work, but I didn't let them know that until they unstrapped me."

Kaede shivered at the grim tone. "How many actually made it out alive after that?" She asked.

"Only the ones SHIELD needed for questioning." Marissa smiled unpleasantly. She exhaled smoke, staring up at the stars. "There's an old saying, something like in order to combat darkness, you risk falling into the dark yourself. Most SHIELD agents toe that line." She stamped out her cigarette. "But, we were talking about you, and why you seem to be avoiding people."

"I don't think you really want me for this." Kaede said.

"What do you mean?" Marissa asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I lose control, cause fires when I get mad." Kaede said.

"I know, SHIELD's been watching you." Marissa replied.

"And they haven't taken me in before?" Kaede asked, confused.

"You haven't given us reason to." Marissa replied. "Most of your little blow-ups were in isolated areas, very little loss of life. You were running scared, we didn't want to alienate you. So we watched, and kept a few… undesirables off your back."

"That's… a little creepy." Kaede grumbled.

"A lot of people say that." Marissa replied lightly. "I do not think your lack of control is a problem, honestly. I have seen already that you have quite a bit of control, it's only when you lose control of your emotions that it becomes a problem, am I correct?"

"Yeah, but if we're in a battle, then emotions will be running high and I could hurt one of the others." Kaede said.

"Does the name Bruce Banner mean anything to you?" Kaede shrugged at Marissa. "Bruce Banner is the alter-ego of the Hulk. A mild-mannered, regular man, who happens to turn into a big green ball of destructive rage when he gets mad."

"And this has to do with me because…?" Kaede promptly. Marissa smiled.

"Bruce Banner was always worried about losing control, but it turned out that the Hulk didn't need the kind of control that he thought. We just have to figure out what works for you, fine-tune the control you already have and everything will be fine." Marissa said.

"How do you know?" Kaede snorted.

"Because I believe in you." Marissa said, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "I chose you, remember? I had a lot of names to choose from, but I narrowed them down, and you were on that list. Because think you've got potential."

"And if you're wrong?" Kaede asked sceptically.

"I don't think I am, but if I do turn out to be wrong, you don't lose out. SHIELD will help you set up somewhere, a good job, scholarships for school, housing, that sort of thing, I'll make sure of it. I'm not in the business of leaving someone out in the cold." Marissa replied. "I know what that feels like, and I won't put you through that."

"What if I do hurt someone though?" Kaede whispered. Her biggest fear, the one that kept her up at night; what if she accidently hurt Imelda? Because of that it had taken a long time for Imelda to convince her to let them sleep in the same area, let alone cuddled up against each other.

"I think you're thinking of the fire in the wrong way." Marissa said, stretching out her legs.

"What's that mean?" Kaede asked.

"You think of the fire as a separate entity from you, something that needs to be put on a leash, but the way I see it is you are the fire, and the fire is you." Marissa said. "You're fighting with yourself, which is why you have issues with control."

"Maybe…" Kaede said doubtfully. Marissa laughed, a bright, loud sound.

"I don't expect you to trust me right now, hell, I'd probably consider you a little crazy if you did, knowing what you've gone through." She said. "I'll make up a training technique for you, to expand the limits of your control, how's that sound?"

"Well, you're probably going to do it anyways, seeing as you do want me for this team." Kaede pointed out.

"You're right, I do want you." Marissa agreed. Something about those words seemed like a promise. I will not abandon you, those grey eyes seemed to say to Kaede. But Kaede knew, people always left, people always abandoned her, except for Imelda. Still, she almost felt comforted by the strange Agent Maloni.

"Your girlfriend's looking for you." Marissa commented. "Best go find her before she figures out Charlie could sniff you out and ruin your little hiding place."

"Thanks, Marissa." Kaede said as she got up. Marissa smiled kindly.

"You're one of my kids now, I take care of you." She said, resting a hand on Kaede's shoulder. Kaede moved away, not quite comfortable with casual touch, but for some reason she felt like she should believe Marissa. Maybe it was the way her eyes went dark and grave whenever Kaede had said she didn't belong, but whatever it was, Kaede felt some of her tension leave her.

She didn't bother trying to think what it all meant right now. Instead she headed inside, right into the arms of her girlfriend. Together they decided to forget the world, even if only for an hour or so.


	8. Chapter 8

Star: I own nothing!

"Welcome to the Situation Room." Marissa said through the mike, looking down through plated glass into the football field sized room. It didn't look like much at the moment, just a white room with nothing in it. She was up in the control room, prepared to observe and see where they needed to make the most improvements. She knew that this day at least would end in failure.

"This is your simulator?" Simon asked derisively.

"It doesn't look like much now, but Stark built it, based off of the holodeck technology you see in Star Trek." Marissa replied. "I can program anything from a tropical forest to an Arctic tundra and it will feel real to you."

"Cool." Imelda said.

"We can't get hurt, can we?" Hiba asked nervously.

"No, you can't. The trainee death rate would be much higher if you could." Marissa replied. Her team looked uneasy. "Generally only the stupid and the cocky die, and it's not until they get in the field for the first time."

"That's comforting, thanks." Simon called.

"You're welcome." Marissa replied sardonically.

"So, what's the game plan?" Imelda asked.

"A simple exercise, get from one end of the room to the other, while avoiding the obstacles. In order to be considered a win, all of the team has to get to the end intact. I have sensors that will tell me when someone has been 'killed' or otherwise incapacitated." Marissa said. "The game begins… now." She pressed a button and pieces of the walls, the ceilings and the floor began to move. Gun turrets appeared on the walls and began to randomly fire.

Simon just started sprinting towards the other side of the room. Charlie took flight as an eagle, but then thought better of it and went back for Viggo. Ze was picked off by a gun on the way, but kept going. Hiba was struggling, and Imelda helped her over one of the blocks rising to the floor, but they were too slow to get off before it would have crushed them in real life. Kaede just went fire and raced to the finish. The rest straggled in, Imelda and Hiba looking unhappy, Viggo looking confused and Simon cussing under his breath.

"Simulation failed." A computerized voice announced. The room went back to normal and Marissa went down to meet her team.

"Now, can anyone tell me what went wrong?" She asked the sullen group.

"Didn't move fast enough." Imelda said.

"Forgot about the guns." Charlie added.

"Those are good answers, but you forgot the most important one." Marissa said. "The goal of the simulation was for the entire _team_ to make it to the end alive. Using that rationale, that you all had to make it out, what should you have done?"

It took a moment for them to think of it, but she knew they had when they started to look away, shamefaced. "We should have worked together." Viggo rumbled softly. "All of us, making sure we all got out."

"Very good." Marissa said approvingly. She sighed. "I know it's hard for you to trust, and by asking you to look out for each other, I'm asking you to trust each other. I know that's not easy, and that it's going to take time, but I believe it can be done."

"So, what do we do now?" Hiba asked.

"Have some downtime, talk to each other. I know you think you have nothing in common, but I think you'll find you have quite a bit in common." Marissa replied. "I'm still setting up classes for you lot."

"Classes?" Simon asked, wrinkling his nose.

"Standard SHIELD procedures, emergency procedures, the hierarchy, you need to know all those things, I'm afraid." Marissa said. "It can be a bit dry, but the sooner you get through it all, the sooner you can move onto more interesting things."

"So we have to go to school, basically." Imelda said.

"Precisely." Marissa said. She smiled as they collectively groaned, except Viggo, who was confused by the notion of school. "Off you go, find something to occupy yourselves with, but do try not to get into trouble." She said. The six of them headed off down the hall and she could hear them start to murmur amongst themselves.

"Interesting group you've got there." A voice from behind her said. She flinched slightly, flexing her fingers. She turned and glared at Agent Coulson, who smiled benignly. Like with her, it was always a surprise to Coulson's enemies that he was as good as he was. Balding, smooth-faced with bright blue eyes and a rumpled suit, didn't add up to a very intimidating persona, which was exactly how Coulson liked it.

"As interesting as yours?" Marissa asked. Coulson was SHIELD's liaison to the Avengers; in his words, their babysitter.

"Just about I'd say. As many issues, but they seem to be the same sort of issues for all of them."

"Trust." Marissa said. Coulson nodded. "Self-esteem too. None of them think they're worth anything."

"And they cover it up with humour, anger, cheerfulness, all that." Coulson agreed. "Stark is like that. Takes a while to get that the asshole exterior is just to keep people from getting too close."

"He's still a pain in the ass." Marissa said drily.

"I know, I work with him on a daily basis. You know he made the coffee maker an AI?" Marissa chuckled. "You have to argue with it now to make the coffee right."

"Maybe we'll trade off sometime. You can deal with my batch of kids for the day, and I can deal with yours." Marissa offered jokingly. "And yes, you are a child, Barton."

"How'd you know I was here?" A voice asked from the vent above them.

"Because where Coulson is, you usually are, unless you're on a mission." Marissa replied. Barton poked his head out of the vent. He had a weathered face and a slightly squished nose that had been broken repeatedly, close-cropped blond hair and thickly muscled arms from using a bow.

"You're as much of a lunatic as Coulson is, getting mixed up in superheroes." He informed her.

"I'm SHIELD, I'm pretty sure there's some form of psychosis involved in wanting to sign on for the organization in the first place." Marissa said, deadpan. Barton grinned at her.

"Should bring the whole team down here sometime, we might wind up blowing up the building, could be fun." He commented.

"You're a hazard to public health, Barton." Coulson said amiably. Barton blew a raspberry at him and ducked back up inside the vent. Coulson gave her a look, as if to say, this is what I deal with every single day.

"I look at you and I wonder what the hell I'm getting myself into." Marissa admitted.

"I think you'll do fine." Coulson replied. "You know, I'm the one who recommended you to Fury in the first place."

"Really?" Marissa asked, surprised. Coulson had been one of her trainers back when she first started, and she'd run quite a few missions with him as her SO. She respected him a lot, and so to hear that he had been the one who got her this position… it was a bit overwhelming.

"I know you look at those kids and you see yourself." Coulson said. "That makes you the best for the job. You understand them, and that's the best kind of SO they could have."

"You're making me blush, sir." Marissa smiled. Coulson chuckled again. She tried not to think of that day on the Helicarrier, when the announcement came on that Coulson was dead. 3 minutes, that was all. He'd been dead for three minutes. She'd been dead for two once. At least one near-death situation seemed to be tradition in SHIELD.

"You'll do good, I know." Coulson told her. "I'll bring my kids around to play sometime."

"It'd be good to show my kids that their heroes are just normal people." Marissa agreed.

"Well, I wouldn't call them normal." Coulson said, heading off down the hallway. Marissa smirked and laughed.


	9. Chapter 9

Star: Usage of some Arabic insults here, not sure if I got them right, let me know if I am wrong in my translations. I own nothing!

"What possibly could we all have in common?" Kaede scoffed, sitting down in a raggedy old armchair in the break room.

"We all have powers." Hiba pointed out.

"Besides that. Lots of people have powers." Imelda said. "I doubt Marissa was talking about that."

"Anybody else here get beaten?" Simon asked sarcastically. Kaede saw Imelda stiffen, and reached out to stroke her arm. Slowly Viggo raised his hand. Mina looked around and then raised her hand as well. "Half of us? That's pretty fucking sad." Simon said. He sounded bitter. "Family, or otherwise?" He asked next.

"Husband." Hiba spat. She said a couple more things, in Arabic, but none of them understood it.

"I'm guessing that was something very rude." Simon commented. "This is the same one that got his balls cursed off?" Hiba nodded. "Remind me not to get on your bad side then."

"It was the rest of his genitals too." Hiba said proudly. Simon winced.

"Good for you." Kaede told her. "Nobody's got any right to touch you, whatsoever. The last guys who tried to rape me are now ash." The others stared at her. "It was an accident." She shrugged. "I don't have much control when I get really angry."

"I hear you." Simon commented. "Electrocuted my stepdad when I got mad." He shrugged his shoulders. "Police have been after me ever since."

"Why'd you electrocute him?" Charlie asked, briefly turning human. Kaede noted that ze didn't seem to enjoy being human-shaped for long periods of time. Simon's lip curled up, the first time Kaede had seen him without a stupid smile on his face.

"He went after my mom." Simon growled. "I didn't care if he was hitting me, because that meant he was leaving my mom and my little sisters alone, but then he went after her… and I just lost it. He was in the hospital, little better than a vegetable last I heard." He shrugged. "I don't care. Far as I'm concerned the abusive fuck got what he deserved. Don't know what that makes me, if I don't feel bad about hurting him."

"I don't feel bad about hurting the ebn el metanaka that was supposed to be my husband." Hiba spat. "If you are damned, then I am double damned."

"Those sounded like very bad words." Viggo said solemnly.

"They were." Hiba agreed. "You know, it's considered against Allah to use magic." She commented, fingering her hijab. "And yet after I'd prayed for a way out of that marriage, I found the spellbooks. I think Allah wanted me to find them."

"I'm agnostic." Imelda said. "I believe in a higher power, but don't conform to any specific religion. In my mind, if it's not hurting anyone, or if it's used in defense, it can't be a sin, because it's just stupid to punish people for things like love." She rubbed her hand over Kaede's thigh when she said that. "So I don't think you're damned at all."

"I have not been struck down yet, and when I was at my lowest, Agent Maloni was sent to me, so I do not think Allah has abandoned me." Hiba said. "Perhaps there is a specific kind of magic that is bad, and specific kinds that are good."

"I think it matters how you use it, to be honest." Kaede said. "I don't think something that doesn't have sentience can be good or bad, magic's a tool right, and it's the person who can be bad or good in the end."

"Much to think on." Hiba mused.

"And I don't think you're damned for not feeling sorry for hurting that shitbag of a husband, 'cause he would have just gone on hurting you, and now you made it so he can't do at least one kind of hurt anymore." Kaede added. "Some people just don't deserve pity."

"Never hurt anyone before." Charlie piped up. "But I don't like the idea of people hurting helpless people, like kids. I mean, I'm kind of animal-ish, so I get a little protective over… cubs, yeah? So I don't think I'd feel bad about hurting someone who was gonna hurt a kid or something."

"If it is to protect others, than I do not have a problem with hurting." Viggo said with a shrug.

"So we're all willing to hurt if it means protecting someone else." Simon said. "That's one thing we have in common. Also, probably useful in this line of work."

"What do you mean?" Hiba asked.

"We'll be going up against people who want to do things like take over the world, cause chaos, that sort of thing. How many of them do you think will go down without much of a fight?" Simon asked. "Guaranteed there's going to be at least one time we're going to have to kill to stop someone."

"Marissa's killed people." Kaede said. "She told me. She doesn't seem too sorry for it."

"Marissa has a good smell. I think she's someone we can trust." Charlie piped up.

"You trust her because she smells nice?" Imelda repeated.

"You can tell a lot about people by their smells. Why do you think dogs seem to know when someone is bad?" Charlie replied.

"She's got a point." Simon agreed. "What's your point though, Charlie?"

"If Marissa's killed people, but she's still a good person, then if we kill people, then we'll still be good too." Charlie said.

"It's probably a bit more complicated than that." Imelda said. "But I get the gist of what you're trying to say. I think we knew what we were signing up for when Marissa came to us, though."

"Yeah, I mean the Avengers have had to hurt people before." Simon said. "Hell, I think all of them have killed people, so yeah, we knew what we were getting into. Marissa didn't shy away from telling us what we might have to do, anyways."

"She's been straight with us from the start." Imelda agreed. "I like her."

"I don't know if I like her, but I don't think she's going to screw us over right away." Kaede shrugged. "Which is about as far as I trust anyone these days, besides Imelda."

"Don't know if that's going to be enough, for this." Simon commented. Kaede scowled at him. "Hey, don't set me on fire or anything, but we gotta know we can count on each other to watch our backs, otherwise this won't work, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I do want this to work." The rest of them slowly nodded their heads in agreement. Kaede was a little surprised to find herself nodding too.

"Well, we're not going to get anywhere if we can't work together." Viggo said slowly. "Maybe we think of ways to help each other, in the Situation Room?"

"Doubt we'll get the same thing twice, but it's probably a good idea to think of general tactics." Imelda said.

"Yeah, like, surveillance." Simon suggested. "Having someone on high, looking out for the rest of us, seeing things we can't."

"Me and Charlie are the only ones who can fly, so I guess that's where we come in." Kaede said. "Unless you've got a spell for that." She added, looking at Hiba.

"Not yet." Hiba sighed, shaking her head. "But I will put it on a list."

"Put shields on that list too, teleportation as well, good thing to have to get away in a jiffy." Simon suggested.

"I feel like teleport would take up a lot of energy." Imelda said.

"Only for emergencies then." Hiba said. "What other spells do you think I should learn?"

"Don't know much about magic, besides what's in Harry Potter." Charlie said.

"Might be a good place to start. Find what spells you can in Harry Potter, figure out what they do and see if there's any real spells that do sort of the same thing." Simon said. "What else?"

They began to all talk at once, throwing suggestions, arguing with each other. Simon and Imelda spoke the most, but they all added in some things to be debated. At one point Kaede looked around and found Marissa standing in the doorway, smiling softly at their group, apparently pleased with them. Kaede didn't know why, but the thought that they were doing _something _right in Marissa's eyes made her feel ten times better about herself.


	10. Chapter 10

Star: I own nothing!

"New exercise for today." Marissa announced.

"You mean we're doing something other than getting our asses kicked by a computer simulation?" Simon asked.

"Yes, now you're going to have your asses kicked by Charlie." Marissa said with a smile.

"Charlie?" Kaede said incredulously.

"Charlie is a shapeshifter." Marissa explained. "You may be called upon to take down someone with similar powers. You need to be able to keep track of them, even if they shift forms, try to blend in."

"Okay, I get it. So we're going to have to chase Charlie." Mina guessed.

"Exactly. The rules right now are no powers for anyone except Charlie, and ze can't change into anything that will be impossible for you to catch." Marissa said. "You are confined to this building, and I would suggest making use of the comms I gave you to keep in touch with each other." She tapped her own comm. "The game begins, now!" Charlie charged off down the hall and the rest of Marissa's team sped off in hot pursuit.

"Interesting bunch." A voice murmured in her ear. She jumped a little and turned to favour the Black Widow with a glare. Agent Romanoff favoured her with a disarming smile, one she knew from experience she should never trust.

"Almost as interesting as your boys." Marissa said. Agent Romanoff smirked. Marissa noticed that she had a cast around her left wrist. "Had an accident?"

"Had to rescue Barton, again." Agent Romanoff replied, with a roll of her eyes. "He forgets when we're on solo missions that the Hulk isn't around to catch him if he jumps off something."

"Men." Marissa said with a chuckle. Agent Romanoff sighed in reply. "They'll probably be awhile chasing Charlie, want to get a coffee or something?"

"Why not." Agent Romanoff said smoothly. It was no secret that Marissa tried to model herself somewhat after the famous Black Widow. Agent Romanoff was a master of misdirection, getting people to believe that she was completely harmless, before showing her true colours. Marissa used her Southern accent, which was often seen as a lack of intelligence, a 'hick' way of speaking. It often worked.

She was nothing compared to Agent Romanoff though. The woman was a legend, able to put on a new persona like a perfectly fitted glove. She was an entirely different person when she went out on undercover missions, so much so that she even fooled experienced SHIELD agents. Marissa could only ever hope to be as good as her. And yes, she did have a tiny crush on the Black Widow.

They sat together in the cafeteria, each nursing a cup of the overly strong swill that passed as coffee there. It was an acquired taste, but Marissa still dumped half a carton of milk into hers, while Agent Romanoff took it black. A couple agents eyed the two of them, but gave them a wide berth.

"You know you have almost as interesting a reputation as I do." Agent Romanoff commented.

"I hardly think so, Agent Romanoff." Marissa scoffed.

"Natasha, if we are going to be talking on friendly terms." Agent Romanoff requested with a pretty smile. Her bright green eyes were steely, guarded. Natasha Romanoff did not trust just anyone. "And yes, you do. Those who have seen your work with your blades… there's a reason not many experienced agents try to flirt with you."

"And here I thought that was due to my winning smile." Marissa said, smiling with her teeth.

"You could make that smile look frightening even without the teeth." Natasha commented. "You take using your natural abilities to your advantage very seriously."

"Hmm, it's even better with the swords, and a little blood." Marissa agreed.

"I hope you let your little group know exactly what they're getting into." Natasha said. "They're not the types who will like being lied to."

"No, I know that. I've been where they are." Marissa replied. Natasha nodded curtly. "Lying to them will do no good, just like it would never have done any good with you." Natasha raised an eyebrow. "I went through your file, I can make a few assumptions about your trust levels."

"I can make a few about yours as well." Natasha replied blandly, sipping at her coffee. "It does make your position ideal, though maybe not to some of the higher ups."

"I've a feeling I'll be the only one they trust for a long time." Marissa replied. "All of them have either been kicked out or run out by someone they trusted in authority, and in some cases, even the police have failed them."

"Such is the nature of our world, those that do not fit slip through the cracks." Natasha intoned, closing her eyes. "I would be careful with your frost giant. The Asgardians do not like them."

"Viggo's liked by all of them already. I think there would be a backlash if he was hurt." Marissa said thoughtfully. "They're learning to protect each other already."

"You should show them footage of you in battle, before they find it themselves and think you're hiding it from them." Natasha commented idly. "You want them to trust you, show you trust them in return."

"Is that how you do it? Play on a team now?" Marissa asked. Natasha eyed her for a long moment, face unreadable. Marissa began to wonder if she'd overstepped.

"I found they are more like me than I thought." Natasha finally said. "And group insomnia makes for some interesting late night confessions." She added with a smirk. "I bet you didn't know that Stark still sleeps with stuffed animals."

Marissa laughed at that. "I hope I have not said anything to offend you." She said.

"If you had, you'd know." Natasha said idly. She stood. "I'd best be going. Stark has promised me a new Widow's Bite, and someone needs to drag him out of that lab of his to eat before he collapses."

"Nice talking to you." Marissa said. Natasha just smiled and sauntered out of the cafeteria.

%&%&%&%

"What are we watching?" Imelda asked with interest as they settled down in front of the TV.

"All the available footage of me in the field and in training." Marissa replied. "I'd prefer you find out what you are capable of from myself instead of rumours. I've said some things but… well, the videos show it better."

"What do you mean?" Viggo asked. Marissa smiled, her eyes steely.

"The footage shows exactly what I am willing to do." She explained. "Perhaps some of you will think twice about trusting me after you see it, but I will have to live with that."

"Better we find out now than later." Imelda mumbled.

"Precisely." Marissa said, nodding at her. She turned on the TV and stood at the back of the room. The first scene was of Marissa, younger, practicing swordplay with a pair of twin sabres.

"They are shashkas." Marissa said from the back. "Russian. The one who forged them told me that twin blades can often carry the same name, as they are to be used as one, therefore they are together called the Final Solution, because I use them as last resorts."

Imelda nodded and turned back to the TV. The next scene obviously came from security footage and it scared the ever-loving hell out of her. Marissa was up against a bunch of men, but she didn't seem fazed. In fact even on the grainy surveillance tape her eyes were frighteningly cold and when she drew her swords she smiled, feral, merciless.

She moved so quickly onscreen it took Imelda a moment to realize that Marissa had gutted the first man and was already cutting through the ranks, blood spattering on her and the walls and everything. When she was done she just left, not even bothering to clean up her blades.

There were others like that, but also there were tapes of her snatching a child, a woman, a man from the clutches of some menace, or from a crumbling building or something. She paid attention to how Marissa held the children she saved, how she spoke to the women she had rescued. There was cruelty in Marissa, a savage rage that came out when she was cornered, or when there was someone else's life at stake. There was also kindness, in the way she dried the children's tears, and in the way she held the hands of a woman as she cried.

When it was over they sat silently, digesting what they had seen. Marissa stood silent, still at the back of the room and when Imelda turned to look at her she lifted her chin. She was not ashamed at what she was, at what she had done, and if there were nightmares to be had, she seemed to welcome, rather than know she had not done everything in her power in those moments, to protect someone else's life.

Imelda stood up and walked right up to her, staring into steely grey eyes, eyes that watched and waited and saw. "When I grow up," Imelda said. "Can I be just like you?" The razor sharp glint of Marissa's smile was beautiful to behold.


	11. Chapter 11

Star: I own nothing!

Director Fury walked into the pool, the smell of salt water stinging his nose. The pool had been chlorine until Agent Maloni had complained that it was stinging her gills. The agent was floating at the bottom of the pool, staring up at the surface of the water. When she noticed him standing there she pushed off from the bottom of the pool.

"Was that really necessary?" Fury asked as soon as her head broke the surface. She blinked slowly at him, with just the translucent second eyelid that protected her eyes from the water.

"Yes." She replied shortly.

"Please, enlighten me." Fury said, massaging his temples. "Because I can't see how showing a group of very suspicious young people exactly what they are capable of is going to help you work with them."

"It's exactly because they are suspicious why I did it." Agent Maloni said, treading water lightly. "They need to be able to trust me, and they can't do that if they think I am hiding something from them. If they find my reputation out from someone else, they'll think I was keeping the information from them, and wonder if there isn't more that I haven't told them."

"So you're taking a policy of complete and total honesty with them." Fury said.

"Yes. It's the only way." Agent Maloni said calmly.

"You don't think that this will push them away?" Fury demanded. "Knowing what they might have to do."

"If they aren't willing to do the kinds of things I've done then they have no place on my team." Agent Maloni said, voice iron hard. Fury smiled thinly and nodded in agreement. "They need to know it's not all fun and games."

"Agreed." Fury said. "What do you think of them?"

"I see myself in them." Agent Maloni replied, as if that said everything. In fact, it did. Agent Maloni had managed to hide her mutation from her parents for almost a year. She had been less lucky at school, but she had endured her peers' abuse without bringing the teachers into it. When her parents had found out… Fury didn't have all the information, but it hadn't ended well and they'd found her after she'd stopped a burglary. Even back then she'd been vicious.

Fury looked up as footsteps padded towards them. Agent Maloni's team stopped when they saw him standing there, uncertain. There was a mixture of tension, defiance, wariness and uncertainty in their eyes as they stared at him. They huddled together, Fury noticed, subconsciously seeking each other out for comfort.

"Children." Agent Maloni said, her voice firm and strong. "This is Director Fury, he's my boss." She spoke like a mother, Fury noticed. The team responded to her too, shifting their attention to her and becoming more open.

"I hear you got to see what Agent Maloni can do when she's at her best, or, maybe it's her worst." Fury said with a small smile.

"Yeah, and?" Kaede Fukui demanded, arms folded across her chest.

"She's quite the swordswoman, isn't she?" Fury asked, trying to coax them along. Their eyes were narrowed though, not willing to play.

"Can we see you demonstrate with your swords?" The snake that had been hanging around Viggo the frost giant's neck suddenly turned into a human of unknown gender and was leaning over, eying Agent Maloni with bright green eyes.

"I can, if you wish." Agent Maloni agreed. "I will have to find time when my teacher is around, shi will be the best to give a demonstration with."

"Shi?" Viggo asked. "Is this teacher… are they a frost giant?"

"Half giant, but yes." Agent Maloni said. "Part of the reason no one really looks at you funny, I suppose."

"Shi… shi will not…"

"Shi won't find you an aberration." Agent Maloni said, hauling herself out of the water. "Shi's more likely to try mothering you, especially if you give hir those big sad eyes of yours."

"Ah, okay." Viggo said. Blythe, the shapeshifter, turned back into a snake, curling zirself around Viggo's neck, rubbing zir head against his cheek.

"Simon, I'm thinking that you could stand to have some weapons' training." Agent Maloni said, striding over to her team.

"Why's that?" Darzi asked. Fury turned and walked out as the team debated with each other, smiling slightly.

%&%&%&%

"Dancing?" Kaede scoffed contemptuously. "That's your plan for giving me more control? That's just stupid."

"It's only one part of what I have in mind." Marissa replied, unflappable as always. "Dancing is a way to release tension, a way to work through emotions. It was either this, or meditation, and I did not think you had the patience for meditation."

"Damn right I don't." Kaede grumbled. "But how is working through my emotions supposed to help me? I'm just going to get mad again."

"When you react in anger or any form of emotion to things, you're not only reacting to that moment in time, but every other moment before that that has made you feel that way." Marissa explained. "That is why tempers can be so dangerous, because often we hold things in until something makes us explode."

"Literally, in my case." Kaede said bitterly. "What's your point?"

"My point is that dance is a good way to work out those emotions before they boil over like that." Marissa said. "Dance is a form of expression, just like any art. You pour yourself into it, dance the feelings that you feel and you release them without having a meltdown."

"What do you do?" Kaede asked.

"I spar, when I need to release anger." Marissa replied. "For most other emotions music seems to be my best option."

"Playing, or listening?"

"Playing. I'm quite good with a violin." Marissa replied. "It does help, especially after a mission that goes wrong." Kaede looked up sharply at that, opening her mouth to ask. She shut it again at the tired, old look in Marissa's eyes. She suddenly found she didn't want to know what kind of things Marissa might have seen to put those emotions there.

"So, what kind of dancing should I do?" Kaede asked. "Not saying I think this will work, but it doesn't hurt to give it a try, right?"

"Precisely." Marissa nodded. "Whatever you feel like dancing, dance that. You were a contemporary dancer, if I remember correctly."

"Of course you know that." Kaede grumbled.

"Would you allow me to stay, or do you wish me to leave you be?" Marissa asked.

"How do you know I'll actually do it if you leave?" Kaede demanded.

"I trust you." Marissa said gently. Kaede felt her mouth gape open and snapped it shut, but couldn't stop herself from staring at Marissa. Marissa smiled kindly at her and moved towards the door. "That's right, I'm choosing to trust you. I don't lie, not to you kids." She added seriously.

"Not a kid." Kaede mumbled. "You can stay, I guess, just don't make any cute comments."

"I will attempt to restrain myself." Marissa drawled drily with a smile. Kaede snorted and moved to the center of the room, shaking out her limbs and stretching herself out. She wasn't sure what it meant that Marissa trusted her. Scratch that, she sort of understood, Marissa had said many times that they reminded her of herself, so for her to say she trusted someone was probably a big deal.

But what did it all mean? Kaede shook her head and decided to put it out of her mind for the moment. She began to dance, and tried not to think about the warmth in her chest that had nothing to do with her powers.


	12. Chapter 12

Star: I own nothing!

Hiba tried not to pay attention to the loud argument bubbling behind her. She'd finally gotten new spellbooks and was trying to figure out which spells would be the most useful for her to learn and memorize, and which ones would be completely beyond her ability to do. Unfortunately Simon and Kaede had gotten into a fight about something, she didn't know what, and were still arguing back and forth.

All the sudden Kaede ran past Hiba on the couch and Hiba could feel the heat radiating off her. Kaede ran from the room and after a moment the rest of them followed her. She ran all the way to one of the gymnasiums and then Marissa halted them outside the door.

"I think you're about to see a display of temper." She explained, just as Kaede blew up. It was really like a fire bomb had gone off; the entire room was consumed by fire.

"Shit, that's like a supernova." Simon said, clearly awestruck. The initial explosion died out, but the floor and the basketball nets were on fire, with Kaede in the middle of the room, still in her fire form. Marissa calmly stepped into the gym, avoiding the spots that were still on fire.

"That was impressive." She told Kaede.

"Impressive?" Kaede replied, her fire form vanishing in her surprise. "I could have hurt someone. I told you I had control issues."

"Really?" Marissa asked. "Because what I saw was you controlling the need to burst into flames until you were somewhere where you wouldn't hurt anyone. If you had control issues you would have gone… nova immediately."

"Nova?" Kaede repeated.

"Yeah, like a supernova!" Simon called. "That was awesome!"

"Seriously?" Kaede said. "None of you are scared of me?"

"Well, like Marissa said, you got out of the room when you knew you were going to go nova, and came here instead. You're doing your best to look out for us." Hiba said, blushing a little when the others looked at her. She didn't like having attention on her. "And, if you are truly concerned, there are several spells I can work on to shield us from your fire, or contain your fire."

"Come on Kaede, your power is so fucking cool." Simon commented. "The bad guys are going to piss themselves when they see you."

"You are pretty terrifying." Viggo agreed. "But not to us."

"Seriously." Kaede said, disbelievingly. "I think you guys are all insane."

"Well, what else are you going to call a group of people willing to try and be superheroes?" Hiba asked. "I think there is some level of insanity in agreeing to this."

"I agree with that." Imelda said. "Come Kae, you knew there had to be more people in the world than just me who weren't afraid of you."

"But six people in one go?" Kaede said.

"We are unique, in that we are all aware of what it is like to be driven away for what we are." Hiba said thoughtfully. "It makes us more open to others who are different too."

"Okay, maybe." Kaede said. "Think this is the most I've ever heard you talk in one go, Hiba." Hiba blushed again and tugged at her hijab. "Am I gonna have to pay for the stuff I just burned?"

"It'll come out of your paycheck, or mine." Marissa sighed. "I'll have to look into seeing if we can make a room designed specifically for you to go nova."

"So that's stuck now, huh?" Kaede asked wryly. "Is that gonna be my code name, Nova? Because it kind of sucks."

"I was thinking more like 'Wildfire'." Simon said. "Kind of ominous, you know?"

"Kinda stupid too." Kaede replied.

"Hey, Captain America, Iron Man? Come on, hero names are corny." Simon retorted. "We should keep the tradition going."

"So what are we going to call you, Electric Man?" Kaede joked. Whatever tension was still around dissipated; everyone started to laugh. Imelda put her arm around Kaede's waist and guided her back to the break room. Marissa winked at Hiba as she went by, smiling softly. Hiba knew she was pleased that she wasn't holding herself back as much.

Hiba went back to her books immediately, but felt a little left out as the others started coming up with ridiculous code names for each other. She put her book down and moved her chair so that she was facing them.

"What do you think, Hiba?" Simon asked.

"About which?" Hiba asked.

"Our big friendly blue giant." Simon replied, gesturing to Viggo. "Should we call him the Smurf?"

"What is a Smurf?" Hiba and Viggo asked at the same time, making Simon laugh.

"Oh, we need to catch you guys up on modern culture." He said.

"I think Icestorm sounds about right for Viggo. Nice counter for Wildfire." Kaede said, rolling her eyes.

"It is a powerful name." Hiba agreed. "What of you, Imelda?"

"I was thinking something like Tank." Imelda replied. "Because I'm the heavy hitter, you know?"

"And people will look at you and think, why is she called Tank, and then underestimate you until you throw a car at them." Kaede laughed. "I like it."

"What about me?" Charlie demanded, waving zir hands around.

"Metamorphosis?" Simon suggested.

"Too long. Make it Morph, maybe." Hiba replied.

"No, Morph is already a character in the DC comics, you know, like Batman?" Imelda said.

"Who's going to know that, though?" Kaede asked.

"Lots of people read comics, dear." Imelda replied.

"Okay, then what about Mimic?" Hiba suggested. She had seen Charlie turn into people when they had been chasing zir through the base, in an effort to trick them.

"Mimic." Charlie repeated. "I like it."

"So that's four down, two to go." Imelda said.

"What about Marissa?" Hiba asked.

"I'm just the support staff, helping from the sidelines." Marissa replied. "I'm not a superhero."

"Not true." Imelda protested. Marissa merely inclined her head and refused to argue. "We'll figure something out."

"So what then, for Mr. Joker Man over here?" Kaede asked, looking at Simon.

"Lightning?" Hiba suggested.

"Too simple." Charlie said, shaking zir head.

"Plus he's not that powerful, calling him Lightning kinda implies he could blow someone to bits with his power." Kaede added.

"What is that thing, the little thing that shoots electricity at people?" Viggo suddenly asked. "Marissa was talking about it."

"A Tazer." Marissa replied.

"That's it, Tazer." Viggo said brightly. "We can call him Tazer."

"I like it!" Simon crowed. "Simple, yet with a promise of pain. All that's left is Hiba."

"I'm a magic user." Hiba reminded them.

"We can't call you Magic or anything with Magic in the title, it just sounds like a stripper name." Imelda told her. "We could go with Mage, but that's kind of more European magic."

"What about Abracadabra?" Charlie asked.

"Too kiddy." Simon replied.

"What about Alakazam?" Kaede asked. "I think it's got Arabic origins."

"It sounds like it could." Hiba agreed. "It will suffice."

"Alright, we got names, now we just got to figure out how to work together without wanting to kill each other."


	13. Chapter 13

Star: I own nothing!

The situation in the Situation room was getting better, but her team still wasn't reacting quickly enough to a change in the threat to them. Still, she had to take her victories where she could get them. At least they were working together now, and they had each other's backs for the most part. They were learning to trust each other, slowly, but surely and Marissa was proud of that fact.

"Och, a fine bunch you've got there." Agent Emilia Smith said, smiling down at them. "A wee bit wet behind the ears though." Shi added in hir broad Scottish accent.

"They've only been working together for a short time." Marissa countered. "The fact that they are working together so well is promising."

"Aye." Emmy nodded hir head sagely. "Interesting combination of powers. Is that a Jotun I spy down there?"

"Yes, he was kicked out of his home for being simply male." Marissa said.

"Ah, the poor wee lad." Emmy said sympathetically. "I should see what level of power he has, see if he needs any help."

"They would also like to see a demonstration of my skills with my swords." Marissa said. Emmy grinned at her, showing off white even teeth with a cute gap between the front two. Shi was only a half giant, so looked less like someone had carved out a person from ice and more like a very large blue woman with darker, raised markings all over, if you ignored the bulge in hir pants.

"Tamed, or all out?" Shi asked.

"They've seen footage of me fighting, and killing with them, all out is best." Marissa replied.

"Lovely. It's been awhile since I could just have a duel with someone, and I have been meaning to have another look at those blades of yours, make sure you're taking care of them properly." Emmy said with a wicked grin.

"Does your partner know that you've escaped medical again?" Marissa asked idly.

"Nope." Emmy replied cheerfully. "If she did she'd be have hauled me back already. Best get that demonstration done before she figures out where I've gone."

"You're not too injured?" Marissa asked.

"Och no, it was just a wee bullet through the gut." Emmy said, waving a hand impatiently. "Just another day for me."

"Your partner of course must be thrilled." Marissa said drily.

"She says she's going to leash me and drag me around if I keep getting into trouble." Emmy said with an impish smile.

"They're done now, shall we go meet them?" Marissa queried.

"Ooh, let's." Emmy agreed, bouncing in place gleefully. Marissa shook her head and led the way to where her kids were waiting, arguing about what had gone wrong during the training session. She clapped her hands to get their attention.

"Kids, this is Agent Emilia Smith, shi's the one who not only taught me how to wield a blade, but also made my blades for me." Marissa said. "Shi's been with SHIELD since it was first formed, given a job by Agent Peggy Carter herself after the second world war."

"Ahh, Peggy, now there was a woman after my own heart." Emmy sighed fondly. Shi smiled at Viggo, who was trying unsuccessfully to hide behind Kaede. "Och, you're a fine wee lad aren't you?" Shi said to him.

"Wee?" Simon repeated incredulously. "You're shorter than he is!"

"Aye, but I'm older, which makes him wee." Emmy said with a grin. "Don't worry yourself about me laddie, I don't care about what you've got in your pants. I'm not a bigot. Be nice to have another frost giant around for once. What's your name, lad?"

"Er, Viggo." Viggo answered.

"A good name." Emmy said. "Now, enough chitchat, you bairns wanted a demonstration of our swordplay, so let's get going."

Marissa's kids eagerly followed them to a training room where there was a specific area for combat practice. A few agents were there and looked on in interest as Emmy and Marissa stripped down to t-shirts and athletic shorts. Marissa could hear some murmurs as more and more scars were revealed on both her and Emmy.

The two of them were good enough that they were unlikely to actually get a hit on each other, and if they did it just meant that person who got hurt wasn't being fast enough and deserved it anyways. Emmy believed in trial by fire, which had produced a number of extremely good agents in the past, including Director Fury.

Emmy pulled the tiny sword hanging on a chain around hir neck and it expanded to a broadsword that was specially designed for Emmy. It was like a claymore, but bigger and heavier, to account for Emmy's strength and size. Marissa's swords in contrast were long and very light, good for quick movements and cutting.

"This is Frostbite." Emmy declared, holding up the blade. "I know, it's a terrible name, but I was half-drunk on adrenaline and exhaustion when I had finished making it and thought I was being terribly clever." Shi grinned. "Now, no one is to interfere with this match, even if it looks like one of us is going to get hurt."

With that shi lunged at Marissa. Marissa moved easily, blades meeting in a ring of steel and they were off. Marissa's focus narrowed to opponent while her mind went into overdrive, searching for weaknesses, points to press, making and discarding plans at a furious pace. What made her so good at swordplay was her ability to analyse a situation and come up with several plans on how to deal with it all in a matter of moments. Of course, the plans didn't always work or were beyond her abilities, which had led to a number of trips to the infirmary.

Emmy was bigger and stronger than Marissa, but shi could also be wickedly fast. By learning with her Marissa had learned to be faster, and rely on her mind to catch Emmy off guard. As good as Emmy was with hir blade, shi tended to rely on brute strength rather than strategy or tactics, which was where Marissa had hir beat.

It was nearly ten minutes before Emmy managed to disarm her and press hir sword to Marissa's throat. "I see you haven't forgotten my training." Emmy said with another smile. Shi put hir blade up and bowed to Marissa.

"Those blades have saved my skin and other people's skin more times than I care to count." Marissa replied, bowing back. "I do my best to make sure I am at my best, especially now that I've got them to look after." She nodded at her kids, who looked suitably impressed by the display.

"Now, you lot will notice that we didn't manage to hurt each other, and that's because we know how to avoid it. If Marissa gets you to do combat training and she wants you to wear protection, don't argue, because I've seen a great many trainees injure themselves and their companions in some bad ways because they didn't properly protect themselves." Emmy said, turning to Marissa's kids.

"You're not the best person to be warning them against taking stupid risks, my dear." A low, feminine voice rumbled. Emmy turned with a smile to hir partner, Tess Coulson. Tess was a magic user who had accidently turned herself into an anthropogenic version of a panther. Black dreads were pulled back from her face and yellow eyes narrowed in annoyance as she stared at Emmy. Her legs were digitigrade, like a natural panther, and her hands were quite pawlike. Strings of various colours encircled her wrists and the tip of her tail. She dressed neatly, in a pair of grey slacks, a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a black waistcoat with red embroidery.

"Och my love, you know I don't need to stay in that infirmary as long as the doctors want me to be." Emmy protested. "I know my own body, I know where my limits lie." Tess didn't look too impressed, but her attention was caught by the six young people edging towards the three of them. She looked at Hiba in particular.

"Are you the mage that has received my spellbooks?" She asked. "The ones in Arabic?"

"Um, I guess so. I am Hiba." Hiba replied nervously. Tess laughed, a rumbling sound from deep within her throat.

"Nice to be able to put them to use again." She commented. "I bookmarked some that might be of good use to you."

"I noticed, thank you." Hiba replied. Tess smiled and drew the shy girl into a discussion of magic. Emmy grinned, pleased that Tess' attention had been redirected before shi'd gotten a tongue lashing.

"Now then," Shi said, rubbing hir hands together. "Who wants to learn how to properly throw someone?"


	14. Chapter 14

Star: I own nothing!

"Can't sleep?" Imelda looked up at Simon, who smiled tiredly and ran a hand through his curly hair.

"Yeah." Imelda agreed, sipping at the hot chocolate she'd gotten from the cafeteria. It was open all the time, thanks to agents coming in from missions at all hours and needing something to eat or drink. Simon sat down on the couch next to her, sighing softly.

"You remember when we were talking about being abused?" Simon asked. Imelda stiffened. "See, you did that back then too, and I was wondering about it. I mean you don't have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable, but we're all here for you, you know that, right?"

"I guess you'd be able to see it, being that you've gone through some shit." Imelda said.

"Yeah, you start to pick up on it after a while." Simon agreed. "I mean I know I'm kind of the goofball, but I got sisters, and I would hate something to happen to them, and you're kind of starting to feel like a sister to me."

"I'm not sure whether to flattered or afraid." Imelda joked.

"Me neither." Simon laughed. "Especially since I'm thinking about Kaede as a sister too."

"What's wrong with that?" Imelda asked.

"She can be a little scary." Simon replied.

"Yeah, she can be." Imelda said. "But if she thinks of you as someone to protect she's even scarier."

"I bet." Simon said. "I think we're all gonna be like that."

"What makes you say that?" Imelda asked.

"Think about it. All of us, in some way, have been abandoned by the people who were supposed to take care of us." Simon explained. "We all find it difficult to trust, so when we do find someone we think we can trust, we're gonna hold onto them with everything we got. Which means heaven help anyone who tries to hurt that person, or those people."

"Gotcha. I'm like that with Kaede, even though she could reduce someone to ash all by herself." Imelda said. "You really think you can trust us?"

"I think you're the only kind of people I can trust." Simon replied. "Like I said, we've all been through shit. We get that about each other, which means we're going to be more careful about making sure we don't leave each other out in the cold like we've been. You get a group of us who all feel like that and we're gonna knit tighter than even most families. Fuck, I think once we get over our trust issues, we're gonna either die or kill for each other."

"I think we're well on that way already." Imelda said.

"We wanna belong, and the best place for us to belong is with people like us." Simon replied. "So yeah, we wanna trust each other, we're reaching out, hoping that someone else is gonna take our hand and we are."

"You're pretty smart, you know that?" Imelda said.

"Naw, I'm just good at reading people." Simon replied. "Never did so good in school."

"School is not the only measure of intelligence." Marissa said from the doorway. She was wearing a pair of boy boxers and a tank top, the scars they'd seen during her fight with Agent Smith exposed once again. Marissa caught her staring and she looked away.

"Sometimes I am ashamed of my body, even though the scars remind me of the lives I've saved." Marissa said. "You two should be in bed." She admonished gently.

"We were just going." Simon replied, getting up. He looked at Imelda expectantly.

"I'll talk about it in the morning, when everyone's around." She promised. He nodded, satisfied. Marissa patted her shoulder as she went by. Imelda managed to smile slightly and then went to find her room that she shared with Kaede.

%&%&%&%

"I got something to talk about." Imelda said, startling Kaede. She rarely heard her girlfriend sound so serious. "I didn't want to talk about it before, but seeing as a bunch of us have already talked about being abused, I figure my story's safe with you."

"You're not…?" Kaede said, shocked. Imelda had told her this story, but it had taken some time.

"I am." Imelda said firmly. "I need it."

"What is it, Imelda?" Hiba asked. Charlie trilled encouragingly, bobbing on zer perch on Viggo's shoulder. Kaede just knew that most eagles did not have so many bright colours in their plumage.

"I got my first girlfriend when I was fourteen." She said. "I was so in love with her, and I thought she was in love with me too. Maybe she was, I don't know. That's not my point though." She halted, clearly hesitating.

"Come on Imelda, we won't make fun." Viggo coaxed.

"I was emotionally abused by her." Imelda finally said. "She'd tell me I was ugly, and that no one else would ever be able to love me, and I… I believed her."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of." Kaede said soothingly.

"She used to tell me if I ever broke up with her she'd kill herself, so I was too afraid to try to break it off with her, even after I realized how poisonous her words were." Imelda continued. "Her parents finally checked her into a mental hospital, because they found the pills she was hoarding and the cuts on her wrists, and then I broke it off with her, because I thought it was safe." She said bitterly.

"What happened?" Simon asked. "What'd she do?"

"She told my parents about the two of us, that we'd been dating." Imelda spat. "She even showed them pictures."

"Jesus Christ." Simon breathed. "Your parents were homophobes, yeah?"

"I was basically under house arrest for months." Imelda said, balling up her fists. Kaede put her hand over one of them, rubbing soothingly. "They took my cell phone, grilled me about every friend I had, took away all my books but the ones having to do with Christianity, prayed over me, even brought a priest in to talk about how I was living in sin! I refused to give in. I was done being a doormat, allowing others to decide who I was."

"So, you ran away?" Hiba asked.

"My parents gave me an ultimatum, either I go to a straight camp, or I leave." Imelda let out a shuddering sigh. "So, I walked out the front door, didn't look back."

"What is a straight camp?" Hiba asked in the silence.

"It's where people send kids like me, who are gay or lesbian, or anything but heterosexual, to purge themselves of their gayness and learn to be straight." Kaede scoffed. "As if love is something that can be learned or unlearned."

"That sounds horrible." Viggo said.

"If it were me, my family would have just killed me." Hiba said softly. "I'm not sure what's worse."

"At least if you're dead you don't have to deal with them anymore." Imelda said glumly.

"I suppose that is true." Hiba said. "I sometimes thought of filling my pockets with rocks and wading into the river, but I was afraid of what would meet me on the other side if I did such a thing."

"Personally, don't think a good god would punish someone for being at the end of their rope and seeing no other way out. That's just cruel." Simon commented. "But that's just me."

"Let's not get into theological discussions, they make my head hurt." Kaede sighed, rubbing at her temples.

"So there you have it, my own little sob story." Imelda said. "Took me half of forever to work up the courage to actually ask Kaede to be my girlfriend. Didn't do much dating, kinda hard to do when you're living on the streets, you know?"

"We could try it now." Kaede offered. "We're getting paychecks."

"You two lovebirds go on a date then." Simon said with a laugh.

"Can we, Marissa?" Imelda asked eagerly.

"You're not prisoners here." Marissa replied with a smile. "Just so long as it doesn't interfere with your schedule, you let me know where and when you are going and you aren't back home too late."

"Yes mum." Imelda muttered. Kaede saw Marissa smile slightly.


	15. Chapter 15

Star: I own nothing!

"I can't believe we're doing this." Kaede muttered, teasing her Mohawk into soft curls that fell forward over her temple.

"You've been saying for years that you were going to take me out on a date." Imelda replied, fussing with her own hair. "Don't tell me you're getting cold feet now."

"Never." Kaede replied, leaning down to kiss the top of Imelda's head. "I just can't believe we finally actually can, and in an actual nice restaurant to boot."

"Yeah, which means no swearing." Imelda reminded her.

"Yeah, yeah." Kaede groused. "How do I look?" She asked. She was wearing a blazer of a deep maroon, with a black ruffled blouse beneath it and dark grey pinstriped slacks.

"You look lovely, Kaede." Imelda assured her. She was wearing grey waistcoat buttoned over a white button-down shirt with a black bow-tie around her neck and black slacks.

"And you look good enough to eat." Kaede said. She didn't get to see Imelda in clothes that showed off her figure often enough. There came a knock at the door.

"Are you two about ready?" Marissa drawled. "Or am I going to have to get the squirt bottle to separate you two?"

"We're ready, you can come in." Imelda said. Marissa stepped into the room and looked over the two of them. She straightened Imelda's bowtie and brushed a few stray hairs off of Kaede's face. She smiled then, approvingly.

"I made sure the location you're going to be dining at is friendly to same sex couples, so you won't have to get into a fight." She told them. "I know Imelda is of age to drink, but Kaede you are not, and I would prefer it if neither of you had any alcohol tonight."

"Yeah well, powers plus alcohol doesn't mix very well anyways." Kaede said. "Swore it off the moment I started setting fires to things."

"Superstrength with drinking would be disastrous as well." Imelda added.

"Good girls." Marissa said approvingly. Really it was ridiculous how happy having Marissa's approval made Kaede. "There's a limo outside the base waiting for you. Should take about a half hour to get to the restaurant." She held out a card. "This is what you will use to pay for your meal, there is more than enough for you to splurge a little, even have dessert."

"You won't be sending an escort along with us, will you?" Kaede asked suspiciously.

"For the moment you are unknown, I see no reason for someone to be watching over you." Marissa answered. "However, once you do begin saving people, it would be best if there was at least one agent tailing you when you are out just the two of you. I know how lovebirds tend to ignore everything but each other on a date. For now I will content myself with staying up until I know you are back here safe."

"Why do you care?" Kaede huffed.

"Because you are my kids, and I take care of you." Marissa said with stern finality. She then grinned, showing off her wickedly sharp teeth. "Go on then, have fun."

"Thanks Marissa!" Imelda said, grabbing the card and all but dragging Kaede to the door. Kaede caught Marissa's amused smirk just before they were out in the hallway.

"Slow down Imelda." Kaede complained. "You're going to mess up my nice clothes." Imelda stuck her tongue out at her, but eased her grip, sliding her hand up into the crook of Kaede's elbow.

"Stop looking so grim." Imelda told her. "It's a date, not the end of the world."

"What if I can't hold it together?" Kaede replied. "What if some asshole says the wrong thing and I go nova?"

"You know when you're at your limit, Kaede, I know you do." Imelda assured. "You'll have enough time to get you out of there, and I'll help."

"You and all the rest of them put too much trust in me." Kaede grumbled, shaking her head.

"We're turning into a family, of course we're going to trust you." Imelda said as they stepped outside the base. The limo was waiting for them.

"A family?" Kaede repeated.

"Don't tell me you don't see the way we've bonded together. We hardly spend any free time apart from each other and are quick to come to each other's defense." Imelda said. "I even called Marissa 'mum' the other day."

"I noticed that." Kaede said. "She didn't seem too put out by that though."

"I know." Imelda said, getting into the limo. Kaede slid in with her. "Lord only knows she certainly acts like one, doesn't she?"

"She does." Kaede sighed. "And she's only a few years older than us." Imelda giggled.

"When do you think we'll get to see the Avengers?" Imelda asked.

"What makes you think we will?" Kaede scoffed.

"Well, might we have to team up with them sometime, if something huge happens, like New York?" Imelda suggested.

"Well… maybe." Kaede conceded.

"And I bet they're curious about the other superheroes that are going to be helping them keep the world safe." Imelda added. "I would be."

"Yeah, but we're still practically kids." Kaede reminded her. "We're curious about everything."

"You don't think adults playing superhero don't act like kids half the time?" Imelda smirked.

"Fair point." Kaede said. They chatted about the day, went over new and old stories until they got to their destination.

It was a higher end place, Italian food. Marissa seemed to have specifically picked a place where they would recognise at least some of the items on the menu. Laughing, Kaede and Imelda chose to share a large platter of Sicilian spaghetti with scallops.

NO one said a word about the two of them taking bites off each other's forks, but Kaede definitely got a thumb's up from the hostess as she walked by. "I have to say, Marissa did a good job picking this place." Kaede admitted.

"She certainly does her research." Imelda agreed. "She's got all our school records, any legal papers that we've ever had, birth certificates, everything." She shook her head. "Only stands to reason that an intelligence agency has information about everything."

"Yeah." Kaede said. "I wonder if she knew about your first girlfriend already."

"Maybe." Imelda said. "But she kept it to herself, and I'm grateful for that."

"She's probably got dirt on all of us." Kaede said darkly.

"I don't know. Gives her a bit of a better idea of how to talk with us." Imelda said. "If she wanted to blackmail us she'd have done it before now. And besides, none of us would stand for it."

"Got that right." Kaede muttered.

Their dessert was an incredibly decadent white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Somehow they managed to finish it all together, even though they felt like they were going to explode. The waiter who brought their check smiled at the two of them giggling like children.

"You two make a lovely couple." He said as he took away the machine they'd used to pay. Kaede and Imelda looked at each other and Kaede leaned in to kiss Imelda on the lips.

They were quiet the whole ride back, leaning against each other, touching softly. "It's nice being able to get out, just the two of us." Imelda murmured. "Being able to just have some time to enjoy each other."

"It is." Kaede agreed.

Marissa was waiting outside their room when they got back, despite it being almost midnight. "Have fun, kids?" She asked with a smile.

"Uh huh." Imelda practically skipped into their room. Kaede lingered, looking down at Marissa.

"Thank you." She said, and then walked away.


	16. Chapter 16

Star: I own nothing!

Marissa watched Kaede dance, seeing in the flowing lines of her body joy. She smiled slightly. Kaede now danced whenever she felt the need to sort out her own head, just as Marissa had hoped she would. This was the first time she'd seen joy in her dancing though.

Kaede spotted her watching and slowed down, stopping in the middle of the training room. "Don't stop on my account." Marissa drawled.

"Do you know that your accent gets thicker when you're trying to come off as harmless?" Kaede asked.

"Yes." Marissa said, stretching the word out and grinning. Kaede gave her a dirty look. "People tend to associate a southern accent with people of lesser intelligence."

"So they immediately dismiss you as unimportant." Kaede said.

"Precisely." Marissa said. "Diversion technique, fool them and then take what you came for. The Black Widow uses similar techniques when she's undercover, but she's far better at them than I'll ever be."

"Sounds like you have a crush." Kaede said with a wicked grin.

"Unfortunately, yes." Marissa agreed. "However she is in a happy relationship with Phil Coulson and Clint Barton."

"A threesome?" Kaede asked.

"I believe triad is the preferred term." Marissa replied. "They've worked together for a long time."

"Clint Barton is Hawkeye, right?" Marissa nodded. "And Phil Coulson is?"

"His function is similar to mine, he's the SHIELD presence on the Avengers team, helps them coordinate, makes sure they're eating their vegetables, all that."

"Team mommy then." Kaede said.

"I have it under good authority that Captain America is Team dad." Marissa said, smirking.

"I don't think any of us are mature enough to be team dad to your team mom." Kaede muttered.

"I would agree with that." Marissa said. "Considering the Mario Party incident."

"I didn't even know I could melt a Game Cube." Kaede muttered. "And that wasn't completely my fault, Viggo's the one who destroyed the TV."

"Hmm." Marissa hummed in reply. "Director Fury didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I told him." Kaede groaned. "To be fair, the Avengers do that to him too, especially when the Hulk gets hungry on a mission."

"I can only imagine." Kaede laughed.

"What were you thinking about while you were dancing, my I ask?" Marissa asked. Kaede was silent for a long moment, and then sighed.

"Was thinking about Imelda, and our date." She admitted. "Didn't ever think that I was gonna get something like that. Figured I'd die in the streets, I mean, what's there out in the world for someone like me?"

"Someone like you?" Marissa asked.

"I know you guys don't think it, but I'm dangerous, and I'm a mutant, which isn't exactly a good thing to be right now." Kaede said. "I know that people wouldn't know just by looking, but it would only be a matter of time before I went nova. I don't deal well with people."

"The current group you're running with aside, of course." Marissa said. Kaede nodded. "So, do you feel as though SHIELD is the only place for you? That you're trapped here?"

"I don't feel trapped, I like it here." Kaede said. "But, there's not a lot of options for me out there, is there?"

"You'd be surprised." Marissa replied. "While businesses will not advertise that they are mutant friendly to the general public, SHIELD does have a list of those who are. If you were ever to feel like you couldn't work with SHIELD anymore, I would give you that list."

"Seriously, there's people out there like that?" Kaede asked, surprised.

"Many are mutants themselves, or families with a mutant in their family." Marissa explained. "Unfortunately our group got the short end of the stick, but there are still many families who are accepting of their mutant kin."

"Sucks to be me, I guess." Kaede said sardonically.

"Well, if you look on the bright side, you did meet Imelda." Marissa pointed out.

"Okay, I'll give you that." Kaede admitted. "So what, that means the universe has a plan for me?"

"No, it means whoever runs this shithole of a universe has a juvenile sense of humor." Marissa said drily. Kaede laughed.

"You got that right." She said. "I'm hungry."

"There's lasagna in the cafeteria today." Marissa said. Kaede fell in step with her.

"You see Hiba working through those new spells of hers?" Kaede asked.

"Yes, they're quite impressive. The shields are standing up to your power so far?" Marissa asked.

"Yeah. She's got some cutting ones, and some ones that make wind and some ones that are like water bending. She even found a few really nasty ones." Kaede said, grinning evilly. "I like the one where it gives the person being cursed permanent period pains."

"Not precisely useful, but satisfying all the same." Marissa said. "She going to hold onto that one?"

"Yeah, and the one that boils someone's blood in their veins." Kaede said. "I think she's creating a list of spells to be used against rapists." She looked at Marissa. "You're not going to try and forbid her from using them, are you?"

"I doubt I could." Marissa replied. "Besides, I'm a vindictive bitch when I want to be."

"I've seen the footage." Kaede said. "You're pretty damned scary. Bet you make grown men shit their pants when they realize the sweet little southern belle is actually a killer in disguise."

"Why do you think I work so hard to maintain that image?" Marissa smirked. "It throws them off when the harmless woman they thought they were dealing with suddenly turns out to be a master swordswoman, often enough for me to get at least one good shot in."

"You think I could do something like that? Trip people up, intimidation tactics?" Kaede asked.

"I imagine anyone suddenly faced with a raging fire would back off, yes." Marissa replied. "You'll need very careful control though, do you think you can learn that?"

"Yes?" Kaede replied uncertainly. Marissa raised an eyebrow. "Yes, yes I can."

"Your conviction is good." Marissa said approvingly.

"Well, you helped." Kaede admitted. "We're working good together now, right?"

"You are, but you all still need work." Marissa replied. "You also need more experience with real-life sort of situations."

"What do you mean?"

"Hostage situations for one." Marissa replied. "The Situation Room is all well and good, but there's no loss of life if I have you trying to rescue a dummy or something. I'm setting up some mock situations with real agents for you all to try your hand at."

"So that the stakes are a little bit more real." Kaede guessed. Marissa nodded. "So how come if during a real battle you'll be calling out instructions, you don't do that when we're in the Situation Room?"

"Because I want you all to be able to think on your own, come up with your own strategies. I don't want you relying on me, because I can be taken out and then what?" Marissa replied.

"Fair enough." Kaede sighed. "This hero stuff is complicated."

"That's because I want you to be ready for anything before you go out there." Marissa said.

"Guess so, some of it is just so damned boring though." Kaede grumbled.

"Welcome to life as an adult."


End file.
